October 14, 2009 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 233

Toughie No 233 by Elgar

More Repeats than UK Gold

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

When I printed this puzzle off from Clued-Up and scanned the clues, my first reaction was that there had been another cock-up at our favourite site. But no, the apparent errors are all deliberate and part of a theme of repetition, duplication and repetition. I had to go out to buy a paper to find out the name of the setter – I had thought that maybe we had a new one, and I was very surprised to find the name of Elgar, not least because he is normally firmly anchored to the Friday slot. It certainly has a different feel to the usual Elgar puzzles, and I suspect that solvers will either love it or hate it with no fence-sitting – I am firmly in the “love it” camp.
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DT 26059

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26059

Hints and tips by a Grumpy Old Man

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

For those of you expecting Tilsit today, he has been pining for the lovely nurses at the Calderdale Hospital so much that he has gone back to see them for a couple of days.  What he has missed is a pleasant but fairly easy puzzle, which should please a lot of you!

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