December 6, 2013 – 3:00 pm
Toughie No 1096 by Notabilis
Certainly not a load of 10 across
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
With the exception of the obscure (to me) Korean port in 1 across this was a very enjoyable puzzle.
November 15, 2013 – 2:00 pm
Toughie No 1085 by Notabilis
Another Masterclass
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BD Rating – Difficulty ****/***** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool. We’re teaching three blokes called Len, Craig and Bruno and woman called Darcey how to dance before some TV show at the weekend. Craig whinges a lot, Bruno flirts a lot and Len has a leery look in his eye. Darcey is charming but pirouettes a lot. This might be a challenge.
Speaking of challenges, we wind up the Toughie week with another elegant challenge from Notabilis, one of Crosswordland’s top setters. The puzzle is full of elegant and tough but totally fair clues, the perfect Toughie and certainly my favourite of the week.
October 18, 2013 – 2:00 pm
Toughie No 1069 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley! It’s Friday and as usual, the difficulty is ramped up with today’s puzzle. Notabilis is back with a nice puzzle to warm up those taking part in the Times Crossword Championships tomorrow. This seemed quite tricky, especially as the big phrases were not ones that your normally see in a puzzle (how many times have you seen Weston Super Mare or Advertisements?). As usual, lots of elegant clues and clever definitions from our setter, demonstrating why he is one of the finest around.
September 25, 2013 – 1:22 pm
Toughie No 1055 by Notabilis
Is It Friday Already?
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We’ve had Notabilis on Wednesdays before but those puzzles have usually been somewhat easier than his Friday offerings. This one, I thought, was more like the Friday ones. Let us know how you got on. His puzzles very often have a Nina but I can’t spot anything today.
August 30, 2013 – 3:00 pm
Toughie No 1041 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Fred and Ginger
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Liberace home for Aged Has-Beens. Our Friday tormentor is Notabilis who once again demonstrates the sheer elegance and quality of his clue writing in this splendid challenge. Probably not one of his more difficult ones, but enough in there to stretch your mental muscles. Had a few problems in parsing a couple of clues and I’m not entirely convinced I’ve missed something obvious in 9d.
Our stand-out favourite clue was 26, which made me smile. Fred was so tempted to have MILIBAND as the answer to 20 across but realised otherwise and found a better solution!
Toughie No 1029 by Notabilis
Old English Heritage
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
A proper Toughie from one of the masters of the genre. One or two of this week’s Toughie setters could well look at this puzzle and learn how it ought to be done.
Toughie No 1017 by Notabilis
A 20 Across!
or You Can’t See The Wood For The Trees
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley! In a bit of a rush as I am packing for my holiday in Scotland starting tomorrow. One of my favourite tormentors returns today and hasn’t disappointed with another clever and stunning puzzle that challenges and makes you smile in equal measure. Another fine puzzle I would encourage you to tackle. Several of the clues, one in particular, were a bit tricky to work out, even though I had the answer and all the bits. However, they fell into place, a couple after some very large prompts from a certain Cryptic Lady!
Toughie No 1005 by Notabilis
On the starting grid
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A superfluity of excellent clues makes this my puzzle of the week.
Toughie No 993 by Notabilis
Fridays don’t get better than this
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment *****
Tilsit spent a few hours in Calderdale Hospital, his second home, today. Once again he has missed out on a real cracker of a puzzle that was a pleasure to review.
Toughie No 980 by Notabilis
The Fine Art of Clue Writing
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *********
Greetings from the Calder Valley! It is nice to be making one of my occasional ventures into Blogland and even more so when the puzzle you get to blog is so stunningly breath-taking.
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