Toughie Crosswords – Page 222 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 1051

Toughie No 1051 by MynoT

Bring Back the Alphabet?

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment **

In the past I (as well as other bloggers) may have given the impression that I was fed up with MynoT’s ‘alphabetical’ series and wished that he would move on to something else. Now that he has moved on I sort of wish that he hadn’t, because what we have now is decent enough as a puzzle but it’s not really a Toughie and there is a lack of sparkle. Of course there may be a Nina or theme there but if there is it’s passed me by.
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Toughie 1050

Toughie No 1050 by Kcit

Navigating through choppy waters

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment **

There is rather a lot of topping and tailing of words. To solve messy clues like many of these you need to find the definition, guess the answer and then try and analyse the wordplay.

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Toughie 1049

Toughie No 1049 by Micawber

A Talented Young Setter Named Mick ….

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

Greetings from the Calder Valley! I spent some of this week getting myself ready for a trampling by the hobnailed boots of Elgar, and instead I get the pleasant surprise of a Friday visit from Micawber.

Some of you probably don’t know but Micawber is the mastermind behind a clever piece of fun on Twitter where you use the 140 characters to produce topical limericks, quite a challenge but lots of fun. However, his success at this has led to a book deal and Tuesday saw the launch of There Was an Old Geezer Called Caesar: A History of the World in 100 Limericks, by Mick Twister. The book is available on Amazon – http://tinyurl.com/Twitmericks

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Toughie 1048

Toughie No 1048 by Elkamere

It’s good to be back!

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

I was undecided whether to make my comeback this week but then I discovered it was an Elkamere puzzle and that settled it. I’m glad I returned because it was a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle on which I made steady progress without ever feeling that I was totally on top of it

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Toughie 1047

Toughie No 1047 by Messinae

Carry On at Your Convenience

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

Thanks to Messinae for an enjoyable midweek Toughie producing a number of smiles, although a few of the surface readings are not very convincing.
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Toughie 1046

Toughie No 1046 by Excalibur

Anyone for Venice?

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

Good afternoon from South Staffs, where a bright morning has become an overcast autumnal day.

A gentle start to the Toughie week, though I found that some of the clues took longer to explain than to solve.

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Toughie 1045

Toughie No 1045 by Osmosis

Pointing the way

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

Cleo is helping me with today’s typical Osmosis puzzle. A few bits of tricky wordplay, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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Toughie 1044

Toughie No 1044 by Warbler

Watch out for 15 March!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Good afternoon from South Staffs. I’m doing an extra shift this week to help cover for Bufo.

The top half of the puzzle went in very quickly, and though I had a little more difficulty with the bottom, it was still ** for difficulty as far as I was concerned. 20a was the last one in.

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Toughie 1043

Toughie No 1043 by Beam

Say No More

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

This is a typical puzzle from Mr Beam, complete with reference to Queen and plenty of nudge, nudge clues. I really enjoyed it, but if I have one minor criticism it is that some of the surface readings (e.g. 22d) don’t really mean a lot.
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Toughie 1042

Toughie No 1042 by Petitjean

Double meanings?

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

This was a tad more difficult than most of the recent Tuesday Toughies, but that’s not a bad thing. The resolution of the wordplay for 1 across added a difficulty star.

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