Toughie no 2571 by proXimal
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable and solver-friendly Toughie from proXimal. I did search for a pangram as the grid is one of his ‘usual’ ones where the Xs appear in the black squares but the solutions are also missing a Z so just an ‘ordinary’ crossword this time
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Toughie No 2544 by proXimal
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
Now that was a proper Toughie and no mistake! Continue reading “Toughie 2544”
Toughie No 2525 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A gentler proXimal with some lovely clues, making for an enjoyable solve. Continue reading “Toughie 2525”
Toughie No 2504 by proXimal
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A nice proper Thursday Toughie with lots to enjoy throughout Continue reading “Toughie 2504”
Toughie No 2480 by proXimal
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
It has been quite a while Continue reading “Toughie 2480”
Toughie No 2460 by proXimal
Hints and tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A slightly friendlier proXimal Toughie than some, presumably why we find him in the Thursday Toughie spot, which suited me because I quite often struggle with his more difficult Toughies.… Continue reading
Toughie No 2437 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Splendid! Not overly difficult, and clever clues that are clever for all the right reasons. A lot of lovely surfaces, some of which seem topical. As often happens, I appreciated the puzzle all the more when writing the blog and added an enjoyment star
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Toughie No 2417 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***/****
As often happens, I gained further appreciation of the puzzle on writing up the blog, when I could savour all the clues again. Plenty of good surfaces to like here today, such as in the excellent 18a, but also in clues like 20a, 26a and 21d – as well the nice Excalibur mislead in 22a.… Continue reading
Toughie No 2389 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
Dutch is on holiday this week, giving me a chance to review a puzzle by one of my favourite setters.
Not many setters seem to have grasped what solvers expect from a Toughie, but proXimal certainly has. I was sailing through this, one clue at a time, before I came to a grinding halt in the southwest corner, which is why I added an extra helf a star to the difficulty. With a compound anagram it can be difficult to spot what is going on, and I needed to solve 27a before having any chance of knowing which four-letter name was required in 24d. Continue reading “Toughie 2389”
Toughie No 2369 by proXimal
Hints and tips by Dutch
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
A very worthy Friday toughie. I’m in a bit of a rush today. Thank you Gazza for the parsing of 1a!
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