Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2515 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Four weeks ago Sunsetter hinted that there might be a themed puzzle appropriate to the time of year – well here it is! You are certain to spot the theme very quickly, but in order not to spoil it I have decided not to provide hints for the first and last across clues.
This is quite an easy puzzle, but the five stars for enjoyment reflect the number of clues that made me smile.
If Helen is reading this, I did try to write to you last week but my email was returned as undeliverable so I answered your question in the Hints post.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 25th December (or thereabouts!).
Continue reading “ST 2515 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2514
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Apologies for posting late – got too involved in the live webchat and blog discussions of today’s Times puzzle.
This was a slow puzzle for me, as all the answers I found difficult were in the same corner – 4A, 13A, 6D, 8D. Solving these took about 4/3 of the time needed for the rest of the puzzle.
Continue reading “ST 2514”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2514 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Today the Morton-Foley Memorial Rugby Match will be played at the Upton Rugby Ground in Upton-upon-Severn between Upton Veterans and Severn Vale Barbarians. Kick-off is at 2.30pm and there will be a raffle with some excellent prizes, all of which have been kindly donated, including a boxing glove signed by Joe Calzaghe, items signed by Mark Foster, a signed and framed print celebrating Graham Hick’s 100 centuries, rugby shirts signed by the Saracens and Wasps teams and four tickets to any Worcester Rugby home game. There will also be a pig roast, just in case you get hungry. All proceeds go to St Richards Hospice, Worcester (see link in the sidebar). If you live nearby then please come along.
While today’s puzzle was a bit on the easy side, it still provided the same level of enjoyment as ever. Just as well, as I have a busy day today!
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 18th December.
Continue reading “ST 2514 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2513
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
A fairly tricky puzzle, this one. Someone on Sunday asked whether the “level at which they are set is in the gift of the setter for the day or whether the crossword editor issues guidance to toughen things up or to ease back a little?” I’m sure some attention is paid to this, and I believe the daily setters have some notion of a general desire for the Telegraph puzzle to avoid some of the tougher vocabulary and “general” knowledge that you might need for other broadsheet puzzles (or the Toughies); but I hope they don’t spend too much time agonising about difficulty, because it’s so hard to measure. Two different people of the same ability level can give you completely different reports about the difficulty of a puzzle, whether they’re beginners or experts. In this puzzle, knowing some fairly standard cryptic xwd material probably helped a lot in keeping the solving time down.
Sunsetter seems to have gone for a bit of Times crossword nostalgia here – this grid is the quirkiest one in the current Times set. It was made by former Times xwd editor Edmund Akenhead, and the big black E is his “signature”. It’s also the only Times grid with answers you might not have to solve at all – the two fully checked four-letter answers.
Continue reading “ST 2513”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2513 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This was harder than the average Sunday Prize puzzle but as enjoyable as ever. Some of the wordplay was a bit tricky, which tipped the difficulty from three to four stars in my book.
Sorry I’m a bit late today, but it took the whole of the morning to recover from yesterday’s session in London. There were too many people there to name all of them, but from a Telegraph perspective Elgar, MynoT and Notabilis were present and I was particularly pleased to meet, for the first time, Derek Harrison from The Crossword Centre – see the link in the sidebar.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 11th December.
Continue reading “ST 2513 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2512
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Another easy but very classy puzzle from “Sunsetter”. I wondered whether there was a little theme when the two crossing words in the middle both had two Vs and so did 8D, but I guess this could just come from the need to fit in with the two long across answers.
Continue reading “ST 2512”
ScrewedUp News – Nov 29
Edition 23
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Does anybody else who uses ScrewedUp have a feeling of deja vu? I printed out the Sunday Quick Crossword No.… Continue reading
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2512 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Being used to the style of our Sunday setter I found this to be quite easy – those less familiar may take longer, hence the dual difficulty rating. Either way, it is well worth the effort.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 4th December.
Continue reading “ST 2512 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2511 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
With puzzles as consistently good as these it’s difficult to say something different each Sunday, so I won’t try. Just enjoy!
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 27th November.
Continue reading “ST 2511 – Hints”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2510 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
More excellent fare from Sunday’s Supremo. As I have said before, this puzzle is worth the price of the Sunday paper all on its own.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 19th November.
Continue reading “ST 2510 – Hints”