Telegraph – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 30786

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30786

Hints and tips by Smylers

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Hello to everybody attempting today’s Telegraph cryptic crossword. If you get stuck, or you have an answer but you aren’t sure why it’s the answer, then the hints below should help. (If they don’t, then that’s my fault; do leave a comment saying what’s unclear, and somebody from the friendly community here will explain whatever it is I didn’t.)

Usually Monday is the only day of the week in which I both work from home and don’t walk the 10-year-old to school, which is handy for fitting in pre-work solving and bloggling. But today I need to head into the office, so apologies for the lack of pictures below. (Alternatively, if I did find time to add some pictures, apologies for leaving in the previous sentence, which I failed to remove. I’m writing this introduction on Sunday, before I’ve even seen the puzzle.)

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Sunday Toughie 149 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 149

by proXimal

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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It took me a little longer than normal to 7d this last night but I was watching the snooker. The Snooker was a bit of a grind, and the crossword was done before the final frame. I hope **** recovers as he is playing in the final right now (I redacted myself as you may be watching the highlights later)

As usual proXimal starts with an easy (to Sloop John Bee) Spoonerism we  have a couple of extraction/compound anagrams and several homophones. Dinner would appear to be 13a served with a Spanish red 

I have hinted half of an even 14a and 14d clues and hope you find the checkers to “pot the final black”

Here we go, Folks…

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ST 3293 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3293 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where the mercury is staying below zero and ice is forming on the rivers!

For me, and I stress for me, Dada reasonably friendly, and we must have seen this grid before – four long ‘uns, eight anagrams (three partials), one lurker, and one homophone all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. … Continue reading

DT 30784

*Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30784

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Over here today (Thursday) is Thanksgiving, which meant it was very late by the time I was able to download and hint this nice puzzle. So, no time for pics I’m afraid. I hope to do better next week.  Continue reading "DT 30784"

DT 30779 (full review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30779

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 23rd November 2024

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Greetings from Kolkata. A pleasant and straightforward Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback.
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Toughie 3383

Toughie No 3383 by Django
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Django is as entertaining and quirky as ever with quite a few gimmes thrown in to help us. Many thanks to him.

Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
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DT 30783

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30783
Hints and tips by Shabbo

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BD Rating – Difficulty ****Enjoyment ****

Good morning.  Back to my usual Thursday slot and a nicely challenging puzzle to keep us all on our toes.

Quite a few clues involve adding, removing or swapping letters, so it pays to follow the wordplay carefully. A bit of GK is required at 13a, 8d, 12d & 20d, but nothing too tricky. I think 14a is a lovely anagram and we are treated to smooth surface reads virtually throughout.

In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons.  Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.  Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.

Thank you, setter.
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