Toughie No 3773 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie Week. Thanks to Gazza for filling in last week whilst I was toiling away in the Santa Clara area: Anna’s Hummingbird, Least and Elegant terns, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, White Pelican and Northern Harrier were amongst the incidental avian highlights.
We have an excellent puzzle from Shabbo today (and a rare example of being right with my morning “guess the setter” game). There’s nothing too difficult, but the puzzle is very well crafted with generally concise but smooth-surfaced clues. 17a, 20d, 24a and 27a (lovely word) all stood out for me, but my absolute favourite today was the wonderful 1d – perfect on all fronts. Thanks to Shabbo for another cracker!
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3773”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31369
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***/****
A miserable start to the morning here in Harpenden though the forecast promises a dry afternoon so I’ll make a judgement later as to whether it’s sensible to take my wheezing chest onto the golf course. Having been firmly entrenched in the Slough of Despond after 4 opening defeats, 10 goals conceded & none scored my team’s impressive 4-1 thumping of Newcastle at home last night for a 2nd successive victory has lightened the mood considerably – if we can travel to a struggling Spurs next Monday & get a result I’ll start to really believe we can stay in the division.
Today’s puzzle is unmistakably an Anthony Plumb production & as Senf says it was Typically Tuesdayish. I’d rate it about on a par with yesterday in terms of difficulty though there were maybe one or two elements to it that required some GK. As ever it was nicely clued throughout & it was an enjoyably brisk solve.
Our old Thursday blogger is on duty over in t’other place with another of his delightfully gentle Toughies that I cannot recommend highly enough. It really is no more difficult than the back-pager & is great fun so give it a try if you never venture to the other side. Whybird (if back from his travels) will be delighted to hear your thoughts.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Continue reading “DT 31369”