September 2, 2014 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 1250

Toughie No 1250 by Excalibur

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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***

Even for those of us who are not too fussed about anagram quotas, thirteen is surely on the high side. Still, they make for some nice surface readings in this Excalibur puzzle. Slightly trickier than recent Tuesday offerings, I thought. I got dreadfully stuck on 4d, having pencilled in DOS as the last three letters. Did anyone do the same?

In case you haven't seen it, the video at 13a is not to be missed.

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DT 27584

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27584

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment **

I found this pretty mechanical without a great deal of sparkle but I was held up for a time after having got the last two letters of 18a wrong which gave me problems with 13d. Do let us know how you got on and what you thought.
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