Kitty – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 2219

Toughie No 2219 by Chalicea

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating  –  Difficulty ** –  Enjoyment ***

 

Hi everyone.  Today is a Chalicea Tuesday — yay!  I found it of a normal difficulty level for the day and the setter.  I’m not quite sure which way is up at the moment so I’ve left the enjoyment rating untouched, but please shout at me if you think it should be higher!

Continue reading “Toughie 2219”

Toughie 2215

Toughie No 2215 by Donnybrook

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hello to you all — I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend.  It was certainly hot here.  After such a long and hard one, I’m looking forward to going back to work for a rest.*

It’s been a good while since Donnybrook last appeared on a Tuesday, and it’s great to see him today.  While I did have to check the odd half-remembered fact or unknown word deduced from wordplay, everything resolved smoothly and it was a pleasure to solve.  How was it for you?

Continue reading “Toughie 2215”

Toughie 2211

Toughie No 2211 by Silvanus

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating  –  Difficulty ** –  Enjoyment ***

 

Hi all.  Another very pleasant puzzle from Silvanus to get the four-day week of Toughies underway.  And a four-day weekend to look forward to as well!  I’m not quite sure how to rate the difficulty because most of it yielded easily, but there were a couple of stragglers and one (17d) which stubbornly refused to budge: I stared at for a few minutes at the end, teased by the helpful-looking checking letters, before giving in to temptation and using the Chambers app.

Continue reading “Toughie 2211”

Toughie 2207

Toughie No 2207 by Dada

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hello everybody.  Thanks to Dada for today’s Toughie, which took me a little longer than his usually do (though that could be down to solving redonculously early in the morning before work).  I’ll be interested to hear what you awake people thought of it!

Continue reading “Toughie 2207”

Toughie 2203

Toughie No 2203 by Jed

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hi everyone.  Jed brings us another very enjoyable Toughie, which took me some time to get started on but then filled up steadily from the bottom, finishing with a little head-scratching in the NE.  If I detected a slight political flavour in some of the clues, I think I’ll not add further comment!

Continue reading “Toughie 2203”

Toughie 2199

Toughie No 2199 by MynoT

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hello everyone.  I found this MynoT offering pleasant and easy-going: most went in like a dream, but I had a complete mental block at 2d, despite generous checking letters.

Continue reading “Toughie 2199”

Toughie 2195

Toughie No 2195 by Musaeus

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating  –  Difficulty ** –  Enjoyment ***

 

Hi all.  We have a Musaeus puzzle today, which won’t be news to those in possession of the newspaper, but might be for early online solvers.

Continue reading “Toughie 2195”

Toughie 2191

Toughie No 2191 by Silvanus

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hello!  As March marches on, so does Silvanus: he’s back with another Tuesday Toughie.  My experience of it was pretty much identical to that with his last, so if you enjoyed that one, then this comes recommended.

Continue reading “Toughie 2191”

Toughie 2187

Toughie No 2187 by Dada

Hints and tips by Kitty

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

 

Hi all, and Happy Shrove Tuesday.  Tomorrow fast times begin, and today we have a Toughie that might have the speedsters reporting something similar (but no quoting times here please!).  As a happy plodder, I enjoyed stopping to smell the roses — not the 9a! — but still wouldn’t have batted an eyelid had this appeared on the back page.

Continue reading “Toughie 2187”