Toughie No 382 by Elgar
An eruption of pleasure
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
The sight of all those 1ac references in (mostly) the down clues made me concentrate on that clue first. I couldn’t see the answer immediately but the enumeration was helpful, so I moved on to the first reference at 11a, trying to find 9-letter anagrams including the letters of BRISTOL. Of those I found, one seemed very likely as fitting a theme (it also matched the wordplay) and that made 1a much easier. Identifying the theme was by no means a guarantee of an easy ride and there were quite a few tough clues to crack, but the first run-through elicited 14 answers and the only real headaches beyond that were awkwardly spelt (or, for me, unknown) members of the theme set.
This was good entertainment as ever from Elgar, perhaps without the usual degree of naughtiness and LOL moments, but the enjoyment factor was kept aloft by a number of witty definitions and wordplay indicators. My favourite clues are highlighted in blue.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
[Today I am trying out a new idea – if you hover over a clue the background changes to grey and you should be able to see the answer. Let me know what you think – particularly if you are using an iPhone or similar. BD]
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 020
A Puzzle by Anax
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Welcome to the twentieth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Anax has provided a difficult puzzle with a hidden theme.
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Toughie No 378 by Myops
Ouch!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
I feel a bit guilty as I’m writing this in a desperate rush; busy day. Blimey, I found this tough – a clutch of obscure answers saw me delving into Chambers and several wordplays had me clutching at irrelevant straws.
It was enjoyable though. Were it not for the obscurities and a few small quibbles I’d have given this more stars, but there are some beautiful clues in here.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 374 by Notabilis
Anax can fall
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I really enjoyed this, but I also found it very difficult – not that I had to look anything up beyond confirming a couple of answers I’d written in. But, after solving, it turns out a couple of my partners in solving crime had far less trouble than me.
Notabilis has been one of my favourite setters for a long time and, as ever, what shines through in this puzzle (beyond his usual inventiveness) is conciseness, clarity and fairness. The enjoyment rating is only at 4 stars, though; for me the clues were pretty much faultless – just one very tiny grumble – but it just needed a genuine WOW moment to tip it into 5-star territory.
My favourites clues are shown in blue text, but these are the pick of a very high quality bunch.
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Toughie No 370 by Elgar
Access all areas
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
If any of you are about to pick your jaws off the floor after seeing a 2-star difficulty rating, let me just say that from time to time it’s possible to be on the setter’s wavelength from clue 1, and for the answers to flood in with barely a pause. It’s quite rare, but it happens. That was certainly the case here, with nine across answers entered almost without thinking, which of course was an ideal start for filling several downs as well. To be honest I could have reduced the rating to 1 star, but while the answers went in quickly there were occasions when unravelling the wordplay wasn’t straightforward, and as I write this I’m still thinking about 24a and 28a.
Easy as the puzzle is, there are some cracking clues as you’d expect from Elgar, 4d being the pick of the bunch, and the odd bit of signature naughtiness. Another Elgar trademark is the occasional strangeness of surface reading – perhaps a few more than usual in this puzzle.
As ever, my favourite clues are in blue.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 366 by Firefly
Sweetness with a bit of bite
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
[Today we reach a rather special milestone – this is the 1,000th post published on the blog! BD]
Despite racing through this Firefly offering there were some quite tricky clues to negotiate and two I couldn’t immediately grasp (6a and 18d – thanks to BD for the pointers). For the most part the clues were straightforward and unspectacular but, despite a minor quibble with the presentation of its anagram fodder, I thought 6d was very nicely done, while 25a gets my COD vote. There was one area that held me up – the SE corner was by far the hardest to crack, even with 7d and 27a offering several letters.
My favourite clues are in blue and it’s usually the case they don’t quite match with yours, so please point out your own favourites.
And please leave a comment telling us what you thought of today’s puzzle. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 015
Going a bit Elgar by Anax
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Welcome to the fifteenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week Anax has provided a puzzle with a personal touch.
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Toughie No 358 by Firefly
A little fun in the sun
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This was quite a straightforward solve with mostly easy clues; in fact the only really tough bit was the sting in the tail wordplay conundrum posed by the very last clue.
There were just a couple of moments where I thought the legitimacy of the wordplay was questionable, but it was never anything that hindered solving and the clues rarely fall foul of Ximenean standards. The enjoyment rating for me was strictly moderate – good clues all round, but no “Wow” moments bar 7a which I think is very cleverly observed.
Favourite clues are highlighted in blue; how do they compare with yours?
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 354 by Elgar
The girls at 45
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Well, this was a struggle – but an immensely satisfying one. I don’t expect total agreement with my star ratings, but it seems likely that many of you will call it either 4/5 or 5/4. The difficulty came from clever clueing rather than obscurity – in fact there was only one bit (a wordplay component) I needed to look up.
It took a long time to get going, with only four answers placed on my first run through, but in the end, when I looked back on it, my very slow solve was down to absolutely fair deception from the setter. There aren’t really any LOL moments but plenty of “Oh, you clever bugger”. There was some extra help when I noticed the likelihood of four symmetrically placed girls’ names and I wondered if the grid contained any further thematic material, but I haven’t spotted anything so far. Another thing I noticed was a generous smattering of modern phrases and colloquialisms which certainly helped to give the puzzle an air of freshness and originality.
Favourite clues are in blue.
Please leave a comment with your thoughts on the puzzle. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 346 by Firefly
Bit by bit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty straightforward solve today and one of those rare occasions when all corners of the grid were filled at about the same pace. Three stars each pretty much sums it up – a good, solid puzzle with no fireworks but (almost) no complaints either – just a couple of things that looked marginal; 16d but only for pedantic reasons, and 17a which looks a little wrong.
I did notice that several clues made use of initial letters; it didn’t grate, but as the puzzle went on these became easier to spot as I was half expecting them.
Favourites are in blue.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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