Gnisrever hcum ooT!

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BD Rating - Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment ****

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Today's Friday Fiend is Osmosis who produces some of the most challenging Toughies, and today's is no exception. This is quite a beast of a puzzle and I struggled for a while to get a foothold after entering a couple of answers wrongly (IN TUNE at 20 down and KINDLE at 21 ac). However perseverance paid off and things fell into place. Osmosis (and his other guise of Scorpion in the Indy) puzzles are notable for their detailed constructs which can be rather convoluted. This for me sometimes spoils things for me as it means the clue looks slightly forced and the pudding somewhat over-egged. There were a lot of reversals today as well. Having to rely on the unchecked letters to solve a clue, as happened with a couple of clues today because the definition and indications are very very obscure or vague, is not to me a fair way of puzzle-solving. I feel a heated debate coming on tomorrow!

Hints and tips by Tilsit

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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment *****

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Time for the Friday Fiend and today we have a battle with Notabilis, one of my very favourite setters who consistently produces elegant and superior puzzles that leave you with a feeling a satisfaction when you enter the last answer. Today's challenge is no exception with some really grand clues.

Leave till tomorrow?

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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****

Greetings from the Calder Valley! The sun is cracking the flags here in Hebden Bridge and we have a nice benign puzzle to begin the weekend from Firefly. I got off to the wrong start by thinking that 5 down was a simple anagram and this blocked me for a short while, but once I realised I had this answer wrong, the puzzle fell into place.

Value for Money!

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BD Rating - Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment *****

Greetings from the Calder Valley. After a lovely break in the Lake District (embarrassing photos safely locked away), it's back to the wordface with this beast of a puzzle from Elgar. Thanks to Jon for stepping in and blogging last Friday's wonderful Micawber puzzle so brilliantly.

There is a theme running through Elgar's puzzle today related to a famous film dynasty and a couple of their most famous oeuvres, a musical connection to the films and a further musical theme. Value for money indeed from our esteemed setter. The clues are up to the usual high standard with a couple of Downs that take quite a bit of understanding.

A Gentle Start to the Onslaught

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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****

Seasons Greetings from the Calder Valley. Osmosis is here today with his usual fiendish constructs, clever surface readings and off-the-wall ideas. I did find it a little easier than his normal puzzles, but it is still quite a stiff challenge.

I am off for a stay in a remote part of the Lake District for most of the next ten days so I'd like to wish you all a pleasant Christmas and the happiest of New Years. Thanks to all the setters for tormenting us during the year, to Phil McNeill and Daniella at the Telegraph for all their efforts in keeping things on the rails, to Big Dave (and Mrs BD) for looking after this wonderful site and finally to all my fellow bloggers who do a marvellous job "putting the words to lights". I'll see you next year!

The Bigger Picture!

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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****

Greetings from the Calder Valley. After expecting Firefly or Myops today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that today's Tormentor was Elkamere. I think this is the first outing on a Friday for him and the puzzle is more than worthy of its place in the spot reserved for the hardest puzzle of the week.

This is a slightly unusual puzzle and one that I appreciate may cause a few solvers to give up. There are some lovely elegant clues, but the "gimmick" of the puzzle is clever and perhaps some may say a bit too clever. In this puzzle, there are four clues that have the indications of four and six letters each with grid slots for the four letters. The clues are all "justified" by 14 across. An explanation is shown after the Downs, although you will need to highlight it to see it. I twigged 5 across fairly quickly but couldn't see how it fitted in to the scheme of things. Only when I completed the grid did it dawn on me how it worked. There was a Guardian setter called Apex who used to use a similar sort of device in some of his puzzles and it is nice to see this sort of working again here.

The I's Have It!

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BD Rating - Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment *****

Greetings from the Calder Valley and not from the NHS controlled part of it! I came home yesterday and although I feel a bit drained, things are on the way to sorting themselves out although I will have to go through things a few more times before I'm clear.

It's been a bit of a rum week in The Toughie World (I still struggle to get into the Telegraph site) and the hospital newspaper seller only carried a couple 'as there was no demand', so luckily some chums sent me copies. Disliked Tuesday's intensely, Wednesdays and Thursday's were fine and today we have Elgar who is back to being King of the Tough Toughies with this ferocious beast.

There's a theme to the puzzle which will become obvious as the blog unfolds. We have the usual mix of difficult definitions and great surface readings and laugh-out loud moments. Days like this are a joy and the sense of achievement when you finish is amazing. Do try and persevere. Thanks to Elgar for a cracking challenge and one that will live in the memory.

History Lesson

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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Firefly is back with what I consider to be a real improvement on his last couple of challenges. Not the hardest of puzzles but one which brought about a bit of head-scratching and a reach for the history books.

Like Gazza earlier, I have been having real problems with the Telegraph website. I haven't been able to access the site much this week and have been lucky that chums have sent me copies of the puzzles scanned from the papers. There are issues known around midnight, but as far as they are aware it should be OK at other times. I know that Phil McNeill, the Puzzles Editor, will usually take note when people mention having difficulties here. Of course if you have a problem that needs to be resolved, or want to register that a problem has occurred so that they know about it, you should contact Telegraph Customer Services via the site.

Setter's Devilry

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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley. I was all set to use 'The Number of the Beast' as today's title or even 'The Devil's in the Detail (or The 7 Across is in the Detail, to be exact)', given that Osmosis usually produces puzzles of such ferocity that my brain usually hurts long and hard after finishing. However this was a much more benevolent puzzle and I have to say I was left a bit flat after finishing it.

There are the usual quality clues from Osmosis, but I don't understand why the puzzle's theme word is shown in some clues as '7 across' but not others. There are some NINA's lurking round the puzzle and they will be explained at the end of the blog so you can highlight them and reveal them if you get stuck. It was a pleasant solve while I was being poked and prodded this morning, but I expected a bit more.

"Three words, darling; A-may-zing!"

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BD Rating - Difficulty ***** - Enjoyment *****²

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Thanks for all the nice wishes and I am home from hospital, although feeling a little fragile, so our leader is going to assist with the Downs.

Today we simply have a thing of beauty. An absolutely stunning crossword from Notabilis, a ferociously tough struggle, but like the best meat when you dine, when you see the explanations for the clues, they fall apart beautifully in the brain. I know some of you will have probably given up but quite simply this is a puzzle by a setter at the top of his game, and I cannot praise Notabilis high enough for it. Thanks to Phil McNeill, the Telegraph Puzzles Editor, for publishing it.

The Saturday Crossword Club

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Many thanks to Phil McNeill for providing today's puzzle, which can be downloaded from the previous post.

A Load of C

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BD Rating - Difficulty ** - Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Bufo and I have swapped duties this week as I have a couple of hospital appointments tomorrow. Thanks to him for agreeing to this. I eagerly awaited the appearance of the puzzle at midnight and my heart sank when I saw it was by MynoT, who I have to say is not one of my favourite setters. My gloom deepened when I saw the grid full of double unchecked squares (another bête-noir) and so I set to.

However, I was pleasantly surprised and appreciated the effort that went into the puzzle. I am aware that for the gimmick hidden within the puzzle (all the answers contain the letter C) to work, you probably need to use a grid like this, so I'll say no more on the topic (cue sighs of relief from the TCE!). Not up to the really high standards of the past few puzzles, but still a worthy member of the Toughie canon.

Perseverance Pays…..

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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment *****

Greetings from the Calder Valley. When I found out last night that I was getting Micawber today, I was filled with joy as he is one of my favourite setters and rarely fails to disappoint. However, it took me exactly 9 hours and 13 minutes to get into the Telegraph website to get a copy, including a stint at 4 am trying to get it. Come on Telegraph techies, something has got to be done, it just isn't good enough.

Rant over. This is a simply splendid puzzle that was more than worth the wait. Lots of laugh aloud moments and the odd forehead slap as well. As I have said before, with setters like Micawber, Dada and Elgar around, the future for crosswords is bright. So many brilliant clues today, it seems a shame to pick the best. Looking at the completed grid, there are odd words here and there and I did wonder if we had a Nina, but it seems not.

Lots of four letter words (uttered and entered)!

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

DT Website rating: minus 4539

Greetings from the Calder Valley. As if the day wasn't bright and sunny enough, we have a splendidly fiendish puzzle from the master setter Notabilis. My plan of action was to print off the puzzle and take it to a hospital appointment this morning. However, due to the dreadful Telegraph website, my plan almost did not come to fruition. I spent an hour between midnight and 1 am trying to get into the site without success. Luckily an American chum persevered and managed to get in after about 40 attempts and was able to send me a copy. Come on, Telegraph IT experts, get your act into gear, or just follow the Guardian's experience and go free and ditch the competitive elements.

Rant over. Back to the puzzle. When I looked through the clues, I thought that 11 across presented a good place to start and was rather pleased when I entered DIVA (a reversal of AVID – extremely keen). Oh dear! I was wrong. I did think it a bit odd that the next clue I got actually had AVID inside it (9 across), but I was completely stymied in the right corner. However, when I realised what 5 down was, all fell into place. The mark of a great crossword is being nicely deceptive, and today's challenge achieved it. Thanks to Notabilis for an excellent battle.

The Curse of the 1 Across

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** - Enjoyment **

Greetings from the Calder Valley.

Our Friday Fiend today is Firefly and I found this a curate's egg of a puzzle. Some nice clues, but a number that made me suck my teeth. For most setters, the clue at 1 across is usually one of the most important clues in the puzzle as it draws you into the puzzle and I can see how today's looks to be a really clever one that possesses the necessary pulling power. However, for me, it doesn't quite hit the mark. I actually wondered whether this was Firefly as some of the clues seemed to be in the style of one of the other setters.

I am still unsure as to how the last across clue went together. I suppose I ended up feeling that some of these clues were a bit too clever for their own good. It's something that causes me considerable personal pain when I feel this way about puzzles, but I also feel my role here is to explain honestly how I feel. As I write the blog for this I am becoming more unhappy with the puzzle. It's a shame as I really like Firefly's puzzles in other publications such as the Listener Crossword.

The Queen’s Speech by Tilsit

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

Greetings from the Calder Valley. No, you haven't done a Rip van Winkle and overslept. Bufo is away today and I'm covering. It's nice to get one of the friendlier setters instead of the Friday Fiends and I'm quite a big fan of Shamus' puzzles. However, I have to say I felt today's challenge lacked the usual sparkle. I suspect it was probably because of 1 across, which I am not over keen on.

I also was trying to solve the puzzle online while being attended to by my nursing team and encountered considerable difficulty in doing so. It seems the tech problems are still there and I couldn't save the puzzle to go back to it.

Good Things Come in Threes

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

Greetings from the Calder Valley. Thanks to Big Dave for covering while I had a wonderful week's holiday in the Lake District last week. Three days after coming home and unpacking, I had to repack and spend a couple of days back in Calderdale Hospital. Luckily I managed to escape last night and am now under the care of the District Nursing team for a few days.

We have the return of Elgar today with a fine puzzle that contains lots of things to make you smile, think and bang your head against the wall in equal measure. Although it's my least favourite grid in the crossword world (each corner only has one way in, so if you get stuck you are really stuck!). However there are some great clues that will have you scratching your head and appreciate Elgar's magical craft.

Crossword TV by Tilsit and Big Dave

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

Greetings from the Calder Valley! I'm demob-happy and off on my jollies to the Lakes tomorrow, and as I have to run around getting things sorted out for me to thrive up there, today's blog will be a two-hander with BD helping out with the Downs. Thanks to our host for helping out when I realised there aren't enough hours in the day.

Today we have a puzzle from Firefly which is similar to one I set in the NTSPP puzzle slot a while back in that it is based on a type of puzzle called Theme and Variations, where there is a theme, often not to be found in the puzzle and then a number of answers that relate to the theme in different ways, which means there's usually no definition in those clues. These require a little solving readjustment as the clue as a whole is actually either made up of indications. And so it is here today with Firefly's enjoyable puzzle which has eight answers where as you solve it you will find there are four that are one interpretation of the theme and the remainder another. I did spend a bit of time trying to put the answers into pairs as I solved them, but realised I wasn't barking up quite the right tree.

Dear Telegraph Crossword Editor…..

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

Dear Phil

I know I haven't been kind to you in the past with one or two less than positive reviews, but I speak from the heart as a passionate solver and try to let you know how I feel about my experiences. I don't see the point in being untrue about a puzzle I can't get on with. This week I was nearly sticking pins in a doll of you, when access to the site has been all over the place but ultimately it isn't your fault, so the pins were returned to the sewing box (my modelling skills produced a doll that looked more like Mick Hucknall than you anyway!).

But I am being spoiled something rotten on a Friday. Elgar is a regular and the last two Friday slots have been Notabilis and today Micawber, three of the finest setters around and they have all produced wonderful amazing puzzles. Today's Micawber gets a five star rating all-round. A puzzle full of stunning invention, wit and topical stuff. Bravo and it is great to see you encourage this younger talent that makes me feel the future of the black and white grid is in very safe hands. This week's Dada was a fine puzzle too.

Now if you can just make the site behave……

Big Dave's Saturday Crossword Club

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[I am in Cheltenham today for the exciting 3D Sloggers & Betters meeting (see sticky post) so Tilsit will be compiling the hints. BD]

As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a few of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.