Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Double Toughie No 100011
Theme & Variations by Elgar
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
The puzzle can be found under the Giant General Knowledge menu as No 100,011 and the solution can be found, from Boxing Day, under the Giant General Knowledge menu as No 1,100,011. Continue reading “Double Toughie 100011”
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Morning all
This blog comes to you courtesy of TransPennine Express as we hurtle over to the Elgar Birthday Bash in York, where many of the great and good (and a few not-so-good!) will be meeting to celebrate the birthday of the Tormentor known as Elgar, Nimrod and Enigmatist, or John to his friends. Incidentally, if you are a masochist for his puzzles, he is on duty today in the i Paper on the IQ slot, following yesterday’s mayhem in the Toughie. Continue reading “DT 29192 (Hints)”
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Greetings. it’s that time of the month again. This time, I’m sitting in the Stretford Bridge Club, getting ready for our Committee Meeting at 10am. At this time of the year most bridge clubs start courses of lessons and we are no exception. If you’re in the Manchester area and would like to play this splendid game, contact me and I’ll let you have details. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play, contact your local club, chances are they will be starting a course soon. Continue reading “DT 29144 (Hints)”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Greetings from a fairly damp and miserable Warrington (what’s new? – the locals).
Managed to make it back safely from Germany, although I am having to trot to the clinic for daily antibiotic IV’s due to an infected leg after I had a fall over there.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings once more from Jena!
The weather has broken slightly, and we had some rain yesterday, which cleared the air a little. Had a really interesting day in the Bauhaus and New Weimar museums looking at some of the amazing artworks from the period between the wars. Continue reading “Toughie 2273”
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Herzliche Grüße aus der charmanten Stadt Jena in Ostdeutschland!
I’m here for my annual visit to the University’s excellent language course and also my annual disaster travelling to and from the city. I thought nothing could top last year’s journey from home but I was wrong. The chaos at St Pancras meant that I had to completely reroute my journey through Paris. I had a first-class Interrail pass which meant I could have travelled on most trains, but because I couldn’t have a reservation on a specific train that would have allowed me to arrive at midnight rather than the original 9 pm, I had to ensure a journey that got me to Jena at 10 am with six changes. Good old Eurostar will be getting a bit of a stern letter about their part in this chaos.
Anyway, to matters in hand. I am suitably refreshed and ready to deal with today’s task which I think is set by the Original Mysteron. A pleasant solve.
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Howdoo!
It’s that time of the month again when the boss goes for a wander down the local Farmer’s Market and I pop in and do the honours.
A very enjoyable and reasonably straightforward puzzle from our regular Mysteron, I’d guess. Not too much to hold you up although a couple of slightly oblique definitions, 6 down being the main culprit and was almost my last one in. As usual, a thanks to the lovely Crypticsue for putting my pictures in as my iMac won’t allow me to for some reason. Continue reading “DT 29090 (Hints)”
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Greetings for sunny Warrington and a quick break for yours truly in revising for his OU end of course essay to bring you today’s Blog.
Unless I’m suffering from an overdose of Denglisch, I found this to be one of those puzzles where at first glance everything looks to be baffling, but suddeny a couple of answers drop in and the rest is plain sailing.
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Greetings from Warrington.
Had a lovely day yesterday celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first puzzle by our very own Elgar. A small group of us gathered at a very nice pub-restaurant in York and toasted Mr H’s achievement. Yesterday’s post does give you a chance to tackle that first puzzle, set when he was a mere stripling at the age of 15. There is a picture of the gathering in there as well and I feel sure a certain other lady will share some too.
It’s the last Saturday, and the boss is off to market, so I’m here to guide you with some hints for today’s challenge. If pressed, I would guess today’s puzzle is by our long-standing Mysteron. Some lovely penny-drop moments, and just about the right level of difficulty for a Saturday puzzle. Lots of favourite clues to make you smile and overall, a good workout. The grid is slightly less helpful as there is only one entry into each section. I have provided a hint to each of those.
For those who are not aware, our very own King of the Toughie, John Henderson, aka Elgar, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first Guardian puzzle today. he was 15 at the time! There is a special(ish) puzzle here:
There have been tributes on a couple of the classical music radio stations and he was given the Freedom of Classic FM this morning at 7:45am (there should be another between 9am and 10am on Scala Radio!)… Continue reading