[.ca] The Daily Telegraph Cryptic Crossword (ISBN 0330347527)

Comments on Daily Telegraph Cryptics:
Daily Telegraph puzzles are more challenging for me than American cryptics. There are of course plenty of unfamiliar words, phrases, and abbreviations, such as lorry, bleeper, tanner (sixpence), billy can, jack it in, and CID. There are also the differences in spelling, such as labour, realised, and defence. However the most challenging part of these cryptics is that the rules are not as strict. A lot of clever non-cryptic definitions are used, such as "shocking swimmers" (eels), "the one that got away" (escapee), and "a child of four" (quadruplet). Also mixed in are Shakespeare quotations with missing words, such as "There is pansies, that's for _____" (Hamlet). Answer: thoughts. Container clues are allowed to have extraneous words, as in "Having nothing to do, some get paranoid - let it get them", where "idle" is contained in "get paranoid - let it get them". The definition and the wordplay sometimes overlap or are not clearly separated, as in the clue for "animation": "I'm in a state of liveliness". "State" is used twice: the wordplay is "im" in a state "a nation" and the definition is "state of liveliness". In double definition clues, sometimes one definition covers only part of the answer, as in the clue for "pilgrim": "Devout learner with a sombre expression". In this clue, "devout learner" means "pilgrim", but "a sombre expression" means "grim". "With" is a hint that "grim" lies within "pilgrim". & lit clues are sometimes diabolical, as in the clue for "storm troupers": "Did they mount Hitler's lightning offences? In this clue, "troupers" are mounted, and "storm" has lightning, and the rest of the words in the clue are extraneous. Worse, the answers in the back give only the words that go in the diagram, with no explanation of the wordplay. The binding of this book is inferior, being suitable only for books that are intended to be read at a few sittings. I am halfway through solving the puzzles, and many pages have already fallen out.