March 9, 2012 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 734

Toughie No 734 by Firefly

Confused? You Probably Will Be……

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Greetings from the Calder Valley and it’s time for a Friday Firefly.

I found the puzzle to be of the usual standard from our setter with some good whimsical clues, and a theme (9 across) to some of the answers, although its use did feel a bit odd at times. At first I assumed that I was looking for synonyms for the expression, but this wasn’t the case. In most cases it was telling you to anagram the first half of the answer, using the second half as an indicator as such. One of the answers asked you to add the theme answer and then remove half of it, which struck me as a bit contrived. Quite a few of the clues today require you to take something (usually an abbreviation) away from a definition of a word.

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ST 2629

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2629

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

The usual excellent start to Sunday with 14a being the clue of the day for its lovely surface reading.  Thanks once again to Virgilius for brightening up a very rainy, grumpy, Sunday morning.

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DT 26809

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26809

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

I was in a bit of a rush this morning so it may just be me, but I thought that this was trickier than the standard Friday Giovanni. I’d be interested in your thoughts.
To reveal an answer just highlight the gap between the curly brackets under the clue.

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DT 26804

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26804

A full review by Digby

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

Having been a regular solver – and submitter – of Saturday’s Prize Crossword for many moons (still no pen!) this is my first attempt at reviewing one. My impression is that they have become slightly more difficult over the past 2 years or so, and are now at about the level (3*) that they should be.
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