August 10, 2012 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 822

Toughie No 822 by Elgar

Mad, Vlad and Dangerous to Know!

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

Greetings from the Calder Valley! It’s that time of the month again and Elgar (aka Vlad the Impaler) has been let out of his padded cell to torment us with another ferociously fiendish Toughie. I think he might have been particularly grumpy when he set this one, as I found this a good deal tougher than some of his recent ones (and they were pretty tough!). Some unusual words in today’s grid which caused me to have to reach for the search engine, together with a couple of very cryptic definitions made this hard going at times, and will no doubt induce apoplexy in the homes of fans of other setters.

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DT 26941

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26941

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Most of this one went in fairly easily for me but I was held up in the NW corner for a while (I kept thinking of Ben and Charles for 1a), so I’ve given it 4* for difficulty. Let us know whether you had similar problems or whether you thought it was a piece of cake.
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DT 26936

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26936

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment **

I don’t think it was just the distraction of all that exciting Olympic viewing but I found this crossword trickier than expected for a Saturday and not quite as much fun as usual either.

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