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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
ProXimal is fitting very neatly into the Friday slot. A very enjoyable puzzle.
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.
Across
1a Tick puncturing tasty journalist consumed voraciously (10)
DEMOLISHED: put a tick or brief period of time inside the informal shortening of an adjective meaning tasty or appetizing and add the usual journalist
6a Advance warning left by extremists relating to area incorporating canal (4)
OTIC: drop the outer letters (extremists) from an advance warning to get an adjective meaning relating to an area of the body that incorporates a canal
9a Quickly moved after parking by rear of building causes accident (5)
PRANG: a three-letter verb meaning moved quickly preceded by P(arking) and followed by the final letter (rear) of [building]G
10a Not to be shifted, one in Paris rejected English pound, unfortunately (9)
UNSALABLE: the alternative spelling of an adjective meaning not to be shifted or exchanged in return for money comes from the French for one followed by the reversal of E(nglish), the two-letter abbreviation for a pound in weight and a word meaning unfortunately – does this spelling of the word grate on you, or is it just me?… Read More
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a dry but slightly overcast day.
It took me a little while to get a foothold in today’s Giovanni, and there are one or two answers which are fairly obscure, so *** difficulty for me.
In the hints below, the definitions are underlined.… Read More
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
Morning All!. There were a few good misdirections in the surface readings of these clues. Overall an enjoyable solve.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
This took me longer than average and when I’d finished the completed grid contained several tentative answers (or bung-ins) that I then had to justify. It was one of those puzzles where I couldn’t decide whether I’d enjoyed it or not. There were only 26 clues to solve but it’s not a very helpful grid in that most first letters are unchecked
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.… Read More
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BD Rating — Difficulty *** — Enjoyment ***
Good morning everyone. It’s a bit on the nippy side in Oxford but if we can believe the forecast it’s going to be a lovely day later on. I have no doubt that this is a Ray T crossword – it has most of his trademarks and anyway it’s his week.… Read More
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ****
A Sunday morning treat full of double delights.
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.… Read More
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Osmosis for what I thought was a proper midweek Toughie with some clever wordplay – I enjoyed battling with it. I did know all the references (except the drug in 22a) but I imagine that some of them (e.g.… Read More
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Yesterday, on our regular walk, we saw two black swans swimming in the estuary. They are really Australian birds but are well established in NZ. We often have them visiting our estuary as a safe refuge during the shooting season which starts in May. Speaking of travelling birds and May neatly leads into our latest news. We have used the excuse of research for the next writing project by one of us, to make a short visit to UK during May. We will be based at Kingston upon Thames.
Enough about us. Let’s concentrate on today’s puzzle from Jay. Generally we found it straightforward apart from a real stumbling block in the NE.
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Shamus, in his occasional capacity as Mr Ron, gave us an excellent back-pager this time last week, and this week sees him back in the Toughie seat. This puzzle was perhaps not quite as polished, but it was nonetheless enjoyable, and like his last Toughie contained clues on a wide spectrum of difficulty.
Do let us know how you got on and what you thought. First-time commenters welcome!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
The top half of this one went in very quickly but then I slowed up considerably at the bottom, primarily because both 19a and 17d were new terms for me and had to be prised out. There did seem to be a lot of proper nouns here with quite a bit of General Knowledge required.… Read More
