March 10, 2024 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Sunday Toughie 111 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 111

by Robyn

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

 

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I write this preamble before seeing the crossword and although Robyn has a bit of history with themes, most recently with hidden games in all the across clues in Sunday Toughie 109. I hope that crickety clues don’t feature too heavily as I would be obliged to hop on one leg until we get to 112 as the umpire David Shepherd used to do whenever the score got to 111 or one of its multiples

David Shepherd — The man who hopped his way to the top as an umpire

Apart from an appeal for a catch (25a) and one run scored (14d) I didn’t notice anything else crickety, but quite a lot of Latin and Kings and Queens appear today as well as a fair bit of facial hair in 8d and elsewhere

Vladimir Lenin - Wikipedia

I am taking Mama Bee out for a Mothering Sunday afternoon tea (The Talbot Hotel in Malton rather than Betty’s) so any pleas for extra help will be answered on our return

It was nice to see that of the four long ones only one was a partial anagram I have hinted half of 14a and 14d clues and hope that the mental image in 27a fades before long

Here we go…

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EV 1633 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1633 (Hints)

18dn by Botox

Hints and tips by Phibs

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My favourite children’s comic ‘back in the day’ was Wham!, and unfortunately for those around me I still recall many of the jokes which were printed at the bottom of its pages (eg Q: What did the greengrocer say when he sold his last onion? A: That shallot!). The first few issues were largely the work of Leo Baxendale, whose creations included the memorable Grimly Feendish. Where am I going with this? Well, a mad (as they invariably were) scientist who appeared in an early strip was called Professor Botulinus Toxin, a name which stuck firmly in my mind. Are our setters (for Botox is bicephalous) also Wham! fans, I wonder, and just how feendish will this puzzle turn out to be?

Continue reading “EV 1633 (Hints)”

ST 3255 (Hints)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3254 (Hints)

Hints and tips by Senf

A very good Sunday morning from Winterpeg where Winter continues, with more of the white stuff, but it did not stop us Springing Forward in the wee small hours and now we have a three week hiatus, which seems to be a week longer than usual, when puzzles cannot be accessed until an hour later until the UK ‘catches up’ on Easter Sunday.… Continue reading