Toughie No 3677 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings! For today, and next week, you find me in beautiful Dumfries and Galloway enjoying a loch-side lodge and the avian cacophony created by Canada and Greylag geese, with a supporting chorus of Little Grebe, Cuckoo and assorted warblers (sedge and willow primarily). So far the weather is more Mediterranean than Hibernian, so no complaints on that score!
We have a relatively gentle puzzle from Hudson today, to whom, many thanks. I added an extra half star for difficulty because of a couple of pieces of General Knowledge I didn’t have, but nothing that wasn’t clearly indicated by the clues. I was on Pangram alert after getting 25a early one with lots of other “high value” letters cropping up, but in the end, that only made the solve harder, given that we are lacking a W, so trying to squeeze one in was a waste of time. 23a, 4d and 14d occupy my podium places this week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.