Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26217
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
The usual mix of good and not-so-good, but continuing the steady improvement.
Tag: Telegraph
Toughie 341
Toughie No 341 by Citrus
After the Lord Mayor’s Show
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Following on from Micawber’s terrific puzzle yesterday was always going to be difficult, but this almost feels at the other end of the scale. It’s certainly harder that most daily puzzles but the truth is that you could probably dash 85% of this puzzle off fairly quickly with the remainder just words that you’ve probably never heard of. The clues are nicely written and sound, but not to the Toughie standard and far too many anagrams.
Apologies for the late arrival, but a visit from a pest-control person resulted in me being evacuated from my flat when he knocked his chemicals over and the flat had to be aired to prevent me from breathing in the nasty fumes.
For new visitors (and we get a few every day) the answers to the clues are contained within the squiggly brackets and if you highlight the space with your mouse, all will be revealed. Feel free to have your say after the blog, and you can rate the puzzle by clicking the stars as well.
DT 26221
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26221
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
A run-of-the-mill puzzle from Thursday’s mystery setter. Comparatively easy, and lacking in inspiration – let me know if you feel differently.
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Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Toughie 340
Toughie No 340 by Micawber
Sounds Like a Cracker
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
For me this was a joy from start to finish, and it’s an object lesson in how to compose a Toughie without resorting to very obscure words. It does have no less than three homophones, at least one of which is a bit dodgy, but they all made me chuckle when I got them.
As always we’d love to hear what you thought of it in a comment.
DT 26220
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26220
Today’s The Day!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Right, before we start, let’s get something out of the way!
Happy Birthday to Big Dave From All the bloggers, posters,setters and visitors to this wonderful site! |
There, oh, and Happy Birthday to Libellule. And Happy Birthday to that woman who lives in Buckingham Palace who shares a birthday with our glorious leader!
Back to matters cruciverbal! It’s a nice puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard who has written some good solid clues that hopefully most of you will find accessible. One or two grumbles though, which are contained in the analysis. However, if you hit a brick wall, the hints and tips below should help, and if you get really stuck, the answers are contained within the squiggly brackets; you should highlight them with your mouse to reveal all.
As usual, have your say after the blog and don’t forget to rate the puzzle with the star system.
Toughie 339
Toughie No 339 by Cephas
The five boxing wizards jump quickly
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
If you haven’t guessed from the sub-heading, we have yet another pangrammatic puzzle from Cephas. While this puzzle would be fine as a daily cryptic, it doesn’t really match up to the Telegraph’s claim that the Toughie is “the toughest crossword in Fleet Street”.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
DT 26219
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26219
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
A real mixture of clues from Shamus today – some I liked a lot, but others, including the cryptic definitions, didn’t really cut the mustard for me. I dithered between two and three stars for difficulty – it seemed marginally more difficult than yesterday’s. So, please tell me what you think (but I won’t be “doing a Libellule” and changing the grading in mid-afternoon!).
As always, the answers are concealed to prevent your seeing them accidentally – just highlight the space between the brackets under a clue to reveal the solution.
DT 26218
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26218
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
Another fun crossword today, not difficult but certainly entertaining. Favourite clue 8d, even if it causes a lot of discussion.
If you can’t work out the answer from the hint, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
ST 2532 – Hints
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2532 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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A few hints to get you started!
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 on Friday, 23rd April.
DT 26217 – Hints
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26217- Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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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. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 22nd April.