Toughie No 3719 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Pleasingly gentle from Django today. The only vaguely time-consuming element was checking the anagram fodder but – like a saint! – I’ve done it so you don’t have to. There’s some Beam-ish mention of boobs and blue tablets that makes the presumably accidental four-letter central Nina seem rather appropriate. There’s also the Miss Piggy reference that, for some reason, always makes me smile. ‘Tis all very jolly. The floor, as ever, is yours.
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Toughie No 3715 by Dharma
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****/*****
A rumbustious return from Dharma, full of his typical humour and honed surfaces, prompting a slow start but a quick finish. I found many of the downs marginally easier than the acrosses but that’s possibly because I had all the checkers by then – being pathetically English, I do like to doggedly work from top to bottom. Other methods are, of course, available. Hopefully, my 2.5 will find safer harbour than usual … the floor is yours to trumpet your agreement!
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Toughie No 3711 by Robyn
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Well, what an unexpected treat: an all-too-rare Toughie from Robyn. Then again, he does have other fish to fry these days. Not the friendliest of portcullis grids but, heck, it is a Thursday and the clueing is, of course, delightful – largely gentle-ish and supremely logical. A soupçon of French, football and (boo!) AI. Only the exotic 12a gave me any real pain, but its building blocks are clear. I could easily have added an extra half on for that alone but, on checking the clock, a muscular two it is. The floor is yours … howl at me if you must!
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Toughie No 3707 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Another pretty gentle Toughie from Kcit. There is, I suppose, a spot of vocab (13a, 7d) but it’s very generously clued. I briefly flirted with adding an extra half on for difficulty but almost immediately recanted – it is, after all, Thursday. The floor is, as ever, yours to say I was right wrong!
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Toughie No 3703 by Potoroo
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
What a joy to welcome Potoroo to the jungle party. A fine debut (here) that’s fresh and fun. Nothing too spooky – only 5d needed a spot of time travel (my Geography O level was 100 years ago) but it’s very fairly clued. The floor, as ever, is yours.
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Toughie No 3699 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Bloggers have to keep their wits about them tackling Karla. Not necessarily because of the wordplay – which is very straightforward today – but because he often hides a subtle Le Carré-flavoured Nina in the grid. Well, I can’t really spot one of those. Perhaps you can? But … there is a four-letter word (plus “set” and, possibly, “it”) running diagonally from the top left corner which, when anagrammed with 1a’s second letter, should/could give you summat. I may, of course, be reaching. I briefly thought, on clocking 14d, that Smiley might be making an appearance, but the last three letters of the crossing 18a don’t quite get you there – unless you play with them. We’ve also got a flurry of names – Enid, Charlie, Juliet, Victor, Seal (possibly), Vogue, Oscar and Cindy – but it’s certainly not a band I recognise! The floor, as ever, is yours.
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Toughie No 3695 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **+ – Enjoyment ****/*****
I thoroughly enjoyed this. There’s a spot of vocab – 27a was unknown to me – but it’s all very fairly clued. I initially suspected we were approaching *** territory as – despite getting lucky with 1a, having recently visited Hungary – I found the top a little bumpy. But the second half eases up dramatically. Whether that’s because it really is significantly easier in the South or whether I’d just refound my Donny legs by then, I’m not entirely sure. Certainly, there is NO science, which always makes me sob. And there is an extremely helpful and literally comic mini-theme. So **+ (as in not quite a 2.5) it is … for a Thursday. As ever, the floor is yours to agree disagree. PS … I should add (ta lots Sloop) that this is apparently Donnybrook’s 100th Toughie, as perhaps alluded to by the 11 ‘C’s dotted about the grid. Hats off, sir: a tremendous achievement.
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Toughie No 3691 by Dharma
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
As ever, one of the trickiest elements of blogging (apart from trying and failing to come up with musical clips that don’t enrage Jane!) is the difficulty rating. Talking of Jane, I know we all hope that no news is good news. Everything crossed. If you’re on Dharma’s wavelength (and, for some reason, I generally am) this should fly in, but, if you’re not, some of his typically wily wordplay might slow you down. I’ve gone with a safe-ish 1.5 – I hope that’s not too irritating. The floor is yours to agree … or not!
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Toughie No 3687 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment **/***
Pleasantly straightforward. 1a is arguably the trickiest clue but, having seen “birdwatching” used in a similar way recently, it flew in. Otherwise it will need checkers and/or some lateral thinking. A quintessentially Kcit puzzle, I’d say: all his usual traits are here and I can’t imagine (m)any problems. Still, you’ll be the judge of that! The floor is yours. Continue reading “Toughie 3687”
Toughie No 3683 by Bandit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Crackerjack. Bandit’s taken some big swings here with brio and invention. They didn’t all (quite) land for me, but most did. And one has to applaud such welcome novelty: smart, fair wordplay and some sparky definitions. SO refreshing.
I didn’t find this too tricky as 1a’s slight quirk set the tone from the off – it’s always a glorious sign when the first clue does that. Get on the setter’s wavelength early on, lap up a couple of gimmes and you’re away.
Added to which, he’s enabled me to self-indulgently clip G. Love, Rocky, Dury, Withnail, Loudon, Ivor, the Tour de France AND a spot of boss reggae … that’s a full house! So it could only be a fiver from me. With – I trust – 3ds at hand, the floor is yours.
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