Toughie No 380 by Osmosis
Not so Glum
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is my second Osmosis puzzle this month and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. There’s less of the very complicated wordplay that we’ve had from Osmosis in the past (in particular, not as many reversals), but there are some delightfully quirky clues. There are also lots of references to people and places, but I think that they’re all reasonably well-known, except possibly for the footballer who may not be known to younger solvers.
As always we’d love to get your views, so please leave a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26280
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
We have one of Jay’s easier offerings today. At one point I thought I might enter all the answers in clue order, but that came unstuck on the bottom half where I needed a few checking letters to get some of the longer answers.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 379 by Warbler
I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Warbler turns into Tweetie Pie today. It was especially easy for anyone who read my inadvertent tip about American railways last Saturday!
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26279
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant workout from Shamus today, with several homophones and a visual clue. Let us know what you thought of it in a comment, and please remember to vote to indicate how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
For new readers wondering where the answers are, they’re concealed between the brackets under the clues. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal one.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26278
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
Another very entertaining crossword fom Rufus today, just the thing to get the crossword week rolling. I made this much harder than it should have been by misspelling 4d, and for some strange reason I also put SATE in at 26a. Just as an afterthought, will the F.A. be flying the England football team home in economy class?
If the hints are not enough to allow you to work out the answer, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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NTSPP – 020 Review
A Puzzle by Anax
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I thought that this one was a real treat from Anax and would have fitted well into an end-of-week Toughie slot. As he warned there are a number of obscure answers, but, as he also promised, the wordplay for these is reasonably straightforward. Then there’s the theme – the first answer I got was 1d and I took this to mean that the across answers would contain the names of famous bridges (Rialto, Tower, Waterloo, Beau?) but I should have realised that Anax is far more devious than that (and 1d does spell out very precisely what to look for!). If you haven’t spotted the theme, then see the bottom of the review.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2542 – Hints
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 2nd July.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 020
A Puzzle by Anax
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Welcome to the twentieth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Anax has provided a difficult puzzle with a hidden theme.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26277 – Hints
Big Dave’s Saturday Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 1st July.
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Toughie No 378 by Myops
Ouch!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
I feel a bit guilty as I’m writing this in a desperate rush; busy day. Blimey, I found this tough – a clutch of obscure answers saw me delving into Chambers and several wordplays had me clutching at irrelevant straws.
It was enjoyable though. Were it not for the obscurities and a few small quibbles I’d have given this more stars, but there are some beautiful clues in here.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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