Toughie No 815 by Warbler
Word for word
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Warbler consistently serves up enjoyable but solvable puzzles – here’s another.
Month: July 2012
DT 26932
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26932
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment **
If you like long anagrams then you’ll like this puzzle because it has three of them. It also has two different types of duck (three if you count the cricket variety). The surface readings in a lot of the clues are not terribly smooth and I think that this detracts from the overall enjoyment. Let us know how you got on and how you liked it.
The answers are hidden between the brackets under the clues – highlight the space between the brackets to reveal one. If you’re accessing the blog from a mobile device there’s some advice on how to do this in the FAQ.
DT 26931
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26931
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Standard stuff from Rufus this morning, but the usual fun. If this seems to be over too soon, Gazza recommends Brendan (Virgilius) in the Grauniad.
ST 2650 (Hints)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2650 (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 more difficult clues and provide hints for them.
NTSPP – 129
Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 129
Heavens to Murgatroyd by Prolixic
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DT 26930 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26930 (Hints)
Big Dave’s Crossword Club
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
Toughie 814
Toughie 814 by Notabilis
Where’s Theseus when you need him?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
At about ten to nine this morning I uttered the immortal words ‘thank goodness this is the first Friday for ages I don’t have to worry about blogging the Toughie, as it is proving impossible to solve’. Luckily for me, the cryptic grey matter gradually woke up, as I then received an email from Tilsit….!!
This week has been a really great one for lovers of the Toughie, and today’s puzzle completes the set very nicely. Some of the clues take ages for the penny to drop and then once you look at the wordplay, you wonder why on earth it took so long, the SW corner of the crossword being a fine example of this phenomenon. I did have a few dense moments with some of the wordplay, for which the assistance of Big Dave is gratefully acknowledged.
DT 26929
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26929
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I was half expecting an Olympic theme today but perhaps we still have that in store. This was definitely a game of two halves for me – the left side went in without difficulty but I required an amount of cogitation for the right side. Let us know how you got on.
If you absolutely have to see an answer reveal what’s inside the brackets under the clue by highlighting the space.
DT 26924
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26924
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!. I eventually solved this on Tuesday night having had a very busy weekend – thank goodness I am on holiday after tonight!. All in all I found this a fair test (although I have been rather tired!) and when reviewing I spotted a couple of &Lit clues that I thought worked rather well.
Toughie 813
Toughie No 813 by Elkamere
Simply the best
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Bufo is away today, so thanks to Digby for stepping in to review today’s other puzzle, freeing me up to do this one. And what a good week this is – with Micawber and Beam already and Notabilis, who leaked the info on Facebook following Tuesday’s mix-up, tomorrow. We have occasionally referred to Elkamere as being Anax-lite, but not today. This is the third example this week of a true Toughie. By no means impossible, but out-of-the-box thinking is advisable.