November 21, 2024 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 3379

Toughie No 3379 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza

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

Karla’s name will be known to aficionados of Enigmatic Variations but this is his maiden voyage as a Toughie setter. He’s given us a puzzle with a minimum of GK but lots of intricate and clever wordplay – that’s just what I like in a Toughie and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to him and here’s to many more Toughies from him.
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DT 30777

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30777
Hints and tips by Shabbo

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

Good morning and welcome to 21st November.  On this day in history, French philosopher Voltaire was born in 1694 and Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte was born in 1898.

I thought this enjoyable RayT offering was reasonably gentle for a Thursday. No prizes for “Guess the Setter” today as he has included all of his usual trademarks of sweetheart, the queen and brevity of clueing, clocking in at a miserly 5.2 words/clue with no double definitions.  The short but perfectly formed 15a gets my prize for CoD. It took me ages to see the Quickie Pun, which is not terrible at all!

In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons.  Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.  Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Thank you, setter.
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