Toughie No 710 by Osmosis
Gnisrever hcum ooT!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley. Today’s Friday Fiend is Osmosis who produces some of the most challenging Toughies, and today’s is no exception. This is quite a beast of a puzzle and I struggled for a while to get a foothold after entering a couple of answers wrongly (IN TUNE at 20 down and KINDLE at 21 ac). However perseverance paid off and things fell into place. Osmosis (and his other guise of Scorpion in the Indy) puzzles are notable for their detailed constructs which can be rather convoluted. This for me sometimes spoils things for me as it means the clue looks slightly forced and the pudding somewhat over-egged. There were a lot of reversals today as well. Having to rely on the unchecked letters to solve a clue, as happened with a couple of clues today because the definition and indications are very very obscure or vague, is not to me a fair way of puzzle-solving. I feel a heated debate coming on tomorrow!
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53.743304-2.013021
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2623
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Afternoon All! I have recently flown through these reviews due to work commitments and today was no exception. Having attempted to slow down and smell the roses I must urge anyone reading this to look at these clues in isolation and marvel at the superb surface readings that make perfect sense and mostly either perfectly define the answer or else completely mislead. Wonderful stuff!
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51.3807220.529774
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26773
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Giovanni periodically provides a puzzle which is easier than normal and this one will probably come as a relief to those who have struggled this week. I breezed through most of it and then slowed down a bit in the SW corner. Let us know how you fared.
If you want to reveal an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the troublesome clue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26768
A full review by Crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
A sneaky one from our Mysteron this week. There I was solving clues in a satisfactorily straightforward manner only to come to a grinding halt on my last one which took me several minutes before the penny dropped. A very enjoyable mix of clues and a nice one to revisit for this review too.
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