Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - DT 26778

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26778
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, February 2, 2012
Setter Elgar
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26778]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog █ - reviewed by Falcon for Big Dave's blog

Introduction

Big Dave rates this puzzle as being five stars for difficulty - which I believe is the first time that I have ever seen a puzzle rated that difficult. He also gives it five stars for enjoyment. I was able to solve 18 of the 30 clues without resorting to the use of electronic aids. This included the entire southeast half of the puzzle (the portion of the puzzle that lies below the diagonal running from the lower left corner to the upper right corner), but only two clues in the northwest half of the puzzle.

Big Dave suggests that this puzzle was likely set by Elgar who is one of the regular compilers of the Toughie - a more difficult cryptic crossword puzzle that also appears in The Daily Telegraph.

The combination of an exceptionally difficult puzzle and other activities on the agenda meant that I am still working on the unsolved clues. I will try and make some comments once I have completed the puzzle.

Signing off for the time being - Falcon