Big Dave's Beta Retreat – Page 9 – Where new ideas are tried out – only the brave enter into this domain

Toughie 1760

Toughie No 1760 by Busman

Hints and tips by Dutch

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

On this special day Kitty is canoodling on the other side, so I’m filling in here. We have a very pleasant crossword offering brandy and more than one port. My last one in was 11a where the combination of a wrong checker (7d) and a focus on the wrong definition held me up for a while, putting me half-way between 1* and 2* time – a nice gentle start to the toughie week

As usual, the definitions are underlined.… Continue reading

DT 28350

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28350

Hints and tips by Mr Kitty & Kitty

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

 

Hello everyone, with love on this feast day.  Kitties love a feast, but though we are usually separated by a mere ocean, today we find the Earth’s core itself between us.  Through the wonders of technology, however, we have been able to bring you this blog, created by joining together hints from each of us.  … Continue reading

DT 28349

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28349

Hints and tips by meteoric Miffypops

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Good Morning from the heart of Downtown LI where life is getting back to normal after the great party that followed England’s comfortable win against Wales on Saturday.

Today once again Rufus delights us with his brand of cryptic kidology. I didn’t find any hold-ups and nor should you.… Continue reading

ST 2886 (Hints)

 

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2886 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

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Good Sunday morning from Winnipeg. Having sunk well into the deep freeze in the middle of the week just gone by with more snow, and highs around -20C (-30C with wind chill), 10C below seasonal normal (whatever that means), we are supposed to reach a balmy -2C today (8C above seasonal normal). … Continue reading

DT 28348 (Hints)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28348 (Hints)

Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club

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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.  I’ll try to add some pictures later [now added  BD], but it’s a busy day at BD Towers as it is Mrs BD’s birthday.

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Toughie 1759

Toughie No 1759 by Elgar

Hints and tips by Dutch

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

Today we have Elgar’s toughie number 115 and accordingly the puzzle contains a number of related connections, as with his last four puzzles here. I found this difficult but immensely satisfying, and I enjoyed unravelling the theme. With cleverly hidden definitions and plenty of devious wordplay, there were excellent penny-drop moments.… Continue reading

DT 28347

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28347

Hints and tips by Deep Threat

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BD Rating – Difficulty *Enjoyment ***

Good morning from South Staffs on a cold, grey day.

I fairly rattled through today’s Giovanni, with nothing causing any hold-up.

In the hints below, the definitions are underlined. The answers are hidden under the ‘Click here!’ buttons, so don’t click if you don’t want to see them.… Continue reading

DT 28342

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28342

A full review by crypticsue

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This puzzle was published on Saturday 4th February

BD Rating – Difficulty *Enjoyment ***

A pangram this week, with double unches and cryptic definitions galore – this was a slightly different Saturday puzzle to the ‘norm’ but it still didn’t take long to solve, and the clues were very ‘blogger friendly’ when it came to typing out the explanations, even allowing for a couple of quibbles, one considered quite major by the commenters on the day!

Continue reading “DT 28342”