Toughie No 354 by Elgar
The girls at 45
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Well, this was a struggle – but an incredibly satisfying one. I don’t expect total agreement with my star ratings, but it seems likely that many of you will call it either 4/5 or 5/4. The difficulty came from clever clueing rather than obscurity – in fact there was only one bit (a wordplay component) I needed to look up.
It took a long time to get going, with only four answers placed on my first run through, but in the end, when I looked back on it, my very slow solve was down to absolutely fair deception from the setter. There aren’t really any LOL moments but plenty of “Oh, you clever bugger”. There was some extra help when I noticed the likelihood of four symmetrically placed girls’ names and I wondered if the grid contained any further thematic material, but I haven’t spotted anything so far. Another thing I noticed was a generous smattering of modern phrases and colloquialisms which certainly helped to give the puzzle an air of freshness and originality.
April 30, 2010 – 12:26 pm
Toughie No 346 by Firefly
Bit by bit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty straightforward solve today and one of those rare occasions when all corners of the grid were filled at about the same pace. Three stars each pretty much sums it up – a good, solid puzzle with no fireworks but (almost) no complaints either – just a couple of things that looked marginal; 16d but only for pedantic reasons, and 17a which looks a little wrong.
I did notice that several clues made use of initial letters; it didn’t grate, but as the puzzle went on these became easier to spot as I was half expecting them.
April 24, 2010 – 12:00 pm
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 011
A Puzzle by Anax
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Welcome to the eleventh in our series of weekly puzzles.
Anax makes his first appearance after his debut in the FT this week. Three down and two to go!
April 23, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 342 by Elgar
Little ****
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
I chose to tackle this over breakfast at a nearby Little Chef. It can be said that ideal conditions for tackling an Elgar are a pleasant, airy environment with perhaps a plateful of good food and cafetière of refreshing coffee to provide those “set it aside for a moment” opportunities. That didn’t stop me from going to the Little Chef though.
And, frankly, it didn’t help as I found this puzzle a bit of a monster in places. Predictably, I’m starting this write-up with no understanding of some of the wordplay constructs, and (since the fingers are currently busy) legs are crossed that those little lights will dawn as I write.
April 16, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 338 by Osmosis
Please check your indicators are working
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment ***
If you like your Toughies tough this one’s definitely for you… or was it just me? After 15 minutes I had only a handful of answers and wasn’t sure where the next was coming from. The problem seemed to be a fairly large number of long-ish clues and quite abstract surface readings which looked hard to break down but, as it turned out, the main difficulties were unusually presented (and occasionally questionable) wordplay indicators.
Although my enjoyment rating of three stars reflects the fact that not many clues were really satisfying to solve, there were some super ones as well, 29a probably being the pick of the bunch – this, and the others I liked, are shown in blue.
NTSPP – 009 Review
Spot the Links by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Given the preamble’s listing of 7 “true” and 4 “sort of” theme answers, plus the task of identifying extra words in all but one of the clues, I feared this was going to be a nightmare to solve, but it turned into a puzzle of moderate difficulty and some exceptionally imaginative clue-writing. I really do hope Tilsit has some more puzzles in the bank because if they’re anything like this we’re in for bags of fun in the tradition of the best cryptic crosswords.
Toughie No 330 by Firefly
Holiday Fever
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
After about 30 minutes, with three or four unfilled answers, I started to panic with this one. The problem for me was an abject lack of knowledge about the themed answers connected with 4d, so there was more guesswork going on than I’m used to. That wasn’t a legitimate cause for panic, of course; no, it was panic because today is going to be a mad rush before flying out to Italy pre-sunrise tomorrow. My parents live over there, you see, so while I have the advantage of very cheap holidays on a hillside overlooking the Med with Portovenere in the distance and hot sun and great food and beautiful scenery and fellow bloggers turning green with envy, I have the disadvantage of midnight emails asking me to buy various bits and pieces they can’t get over there.
It’s fair to say my mind is on other things, so let’s stop the holiday talk for a moment and knuckle down…
This was a straight-down-the-middle sort of puzzle for me – no fireworks but hardly anything to grumble about; in fact there is an unexpected and very commendable high point at 12a. My enjoyment rating of three stars is only because I didn’t have an affinity with the theme, but I’m sure many of you will have taken greater pleasure in it.
March 26, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 326 by Myops
Identity Crikey
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
A quick glance over the clues, and this puzzle seemed to have Elgar written all over it, albeit without the linked answers and smattering of numerical grid references. On solving, many clues had that close-to-the-edge risk factor to convince me even more. And it turns out I was completely wrong. What an aficionado I am.
So, you might think I enjoyed this, and (unlike a Jeremy Clarkson sentence starting with those same words) you’d be right. There’s lovely, imaginative stuff all over the place, coupled with some real challenges that took a lot of unravelling.
March 19, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 322 by Elgar
Under pressure!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
I feel awful about this. Time constraints mean I’m writing this review in a desperate rush, so I can’t be as expansive as usual in my comments.
This was a tough one for me, the NW corner taking an age to fall into place. Some wordplay I didn’t understand at the time of completing the grid but, on reflection, it’s the usual mix of entertaining wickedness from Elgar – a fine, occasionally naughty, but ultimately satisfying challenge.
March 12, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 318 by Notabilis
This is what they want
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment *****
This blog often contains comments about whether or not the Toughie does what it says on the tin, but getting the balance exactly right – a tough puzzle, but solvable and enjoyable – is difficult to achieve. The three stars I’ve given for difficulty here are solely a reflection of the fact that I managed to get on the setter’s wavelength very quickly, but I suspect others may have found it hard going in places. What I can be fairly sure of, though, is that those who got through it will have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. No doubt the crossword editor receives many comments along the lines of “I think the Telegraph Toughie should be…”; the only thing I can say is that an increase in the number of puzzles by Notabilis would be welcomed by all. He really is a superb setter; imaginative, witty, concise and solidly Ximenean in technique.
This puzzle is no exception, an absolute delight. The clue are completely fair, smooth, and littered with just the right number of “Aha!” moments, and also a few genuine “Bravo!” moments.
Toughie No 314 by Elgar
This is what Fridays are for
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment ****
The last time I reviewed an Elgar puzzle it was a “blind” solve; had no idea who had set it. This time I was forewarned so was on the lookout for his trademark trickery which, naturally, shines through in this mega-tough but highly entertaining (occasionally very naughty) puzzle. 4d, 5d and 12d are sure to raise both giggles among the knowing and temperatures among the sweet and innocent, but it’s all good fun.
It was a tricky solve in most areas, but the SE corner put up most resistance, and (as always seems to be the case with me) a number of answers went in without parsing the wordplay, so I’m hoping those pennies will drop as I write.
February 26, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 310 by Myops
I am about to tackle today’s Toughie. I may be gone for some time.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment ***
Did I have this one coming? After several weeks of easy-to-moderate Fridays this came along with “absolute stinker” tattooed on its forehead. Some tricky wordplay is combined with several very obscure answers.
There is a theme, but there is also a departure from the thematic norm in that the completed grid appears not to contain any thematic material. Instead, we have clues presented as rhyming couplets (hence the forward slash bits) and, spread among them in sequence, all twelve of the calendar months. As a result some of the surface readings come close to being nonsensical but that’s hardly surprising given the constraints imposed by two thematic elements.
February 19, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 306 by Micawber
Sprint to finishing line – finishing line disappears!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***
Probably my fastest TT solve ever until I reached the very last clue (thanks to BD for helping out). I’m not quite sure why the solve was so quick because, looking back through the clues again, I think there are some quite tricky bits; in fact there are some answers I placed without full understanding of the wordplay, so this review might just contain a few um-ah-er moments. We’ll see.
Easy as it was, it was still enjoyable. A couple of surface readings look less than convincing but I’m very biased in having that area of clueing as the main thing I aim for when writing. To many solvers it’s not that important.
February 12, 2010 – 11:00 am
Toughie No 302 by Elgar
Yes, but why?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment **
With most crosswords – especially those of the harder variety – you can expect to fill in one or two answers without fully understanding the wordplay. For me this must have been some kind of record; certainly one of the quicker fills I’ve done, but with around half a dozen clues I couldn’t unravel. Until I went back in for a closer look, 10a, 26a, 2d, 3d, 11d, 19d and 23d had me flummoxed and there were a couple I wasn’t absolutely sure I’d got right until I saw the solution grid.
Big Dave came to the rescue with the explanations for some – I’m amazed that he worked them out because some of the clueing liberties taken are close to outrageous. I can’t use that as a reason to mark down the enjoyment; in all honesty my Telegraph solving career is still in its infancy and not all of its wiles are fully ingrained yet. But I didn’t find the clues particularly convincing and some of their surfaces felt almost random.
So, a pretty tough one I think. I’ve shown my favourite clues in blue – let me know which ones floated your barge, or indeed which ones sank your kayak.
February 4, 2010 – 10:00 am
Toughie No 297 by Firefly
A bit of 6a but no 27a
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
This was one of those puzzles where about four fifths of the answers dragged ink from the biro almost before the nib touched the paper, but there were a handful that really caused some head-scratching.
Post-solve, it became apparent just how much difference there can be between Ximenean and Libertarian clueing. If I wanted to wear my purist’s hat I could say there were all sorts of wordplay indicators here that were questionable, but the comment would be irrelevant. Telegraph solvers are used to having things a certain way, and what’s dodgy in some circles is perfectly acceptable here.
When Dave sends me the template for doing the write-up there are default Difficulty/Enjoyment levels of 3 stars each, and in this case I think that’s about right – it’s very much a straight-down-the-middle sort of puzzle.
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