Toughie No 240 by Notabilis
The Iceman Cometh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
For some reason I really struggled on both the crossword and on deriving the word play when I was doing the crossword and also when I was writing the blog, and only finished the blog with a little help from Gazza.
Not the sort of Toughie I usually expect to deal with on a Tuesday. However it was enjoyable, and had a number of great clues such as 5d for example. I was particularly pleased when I finished it.
Please let us know what you think via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26066
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** and a half – Enjoyment ***
I didn’t find this a particularly complicated puzzle, but I enjoyed doing it. A decent grid, a nice mix of clues, and a couple to make you smile. What more do you need whilst you are eating your breakfast, or enjoying the first cup of coffee for the day.
Any comments are appreciated.
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Toughie No 236 by Excalibur
In The Doldrums
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
You are either going to like this or hate it. Me I hated it. I guessed what I was dealing with after two or three clues and plodded on feeling older and wearier as I realised what each answer was. When I had finished I felt as if I had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Do we have any volunteers who might want to review an Excalibur Toughie? There has to be someone who likes this style of crossword and would be able to put in a good word.
Lets hope the normal cryptic is more enjoyable.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26060
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A comme ci comme ca crossword today, that has its moments. But after the fun I had doing yesterdays Toughie its hard to get excited by this one. The answers are hidden in the blank space between the curly brackets, just highlight it to read them directly. As usual feel free to leave comments.
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Toughie No 232 by MynoT
All U Ever Wanted!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I started this very slowly, getting 10a, 9d and 18a as straightforward, and then started to struggle. Then I realised what I was dealing with and things got a bit easier. If you hadn’t already noticed, the only vowel used in this crossword is a U.
There is one thing that bothers me, I wonder what MynoT is going to do next?
As usual please feel free to leave a comment.
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ScrewedUp News – Oct 11
Edition 22
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Its been a while since we had to post a ScrewedUp News item. August 1st was the last time.… Continue reading
Toughie No 228 by Campbell
No Comment
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
I am not sure what to say about this Toughie, so I won’t. But if you want to claim that you have done a Toughie, then this is the one to go for…
As usual please leave a comment if you want to share a thought or two with us.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26048
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** and a half – Enjoyment ***
Not quite two stars, but I don’t think this is worth three stars for difficulty either. But there’s still a lot of fun to be had and depressingly I can’t even complain about the anagram indicators.
Did the setter deliberately juxtapose 1d and 17d and also 21d and 8d? I am not sure, but I like the effect.
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Toughie No 224 by Micawber
Result happiness!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We have been having some nice easy Tuesday Toughies for a few weeks now…. Well its time to wake up and smell the coffee. A really enjoyable crossword, with some great surface readings and clues to make you smile. Getting some of the longer answers early on will help.
Feel free to leave a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26042
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I came to appreciate this crossword more when I started writing up the blog, than when I actually did it. For once I can’t really complain about anagram indicators, except for 10a where I was a little unsure which one is supposed to do the job, but eventually decided on display. Otherwise this is a gentle work out for the grey cells, having a good mix of clue types, and clues that vary from being quite simple to others that are more complicated.
As usual feel free to comment and dicuss what you thought of today’s offering.
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