Gazza – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 3420

Toughie No 3420 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ****Enjoyment ****

Sparks has provided an entertaining puzzle where some of the parsing took me some time – many thanks to him. He usually has something going on in the grid and today all of the 4-letter answers are reversed in symmetrical locations.
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Toughie 3415

Toughie No 3415 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ****

I thought that Silvanus had increased his difficulty level very slightly with this Toughie but the quality and enjoyment is as high as ever. Many thanks to him.
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Toughie 3412

Toughie No 3412 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty *****Enjoyment ****

Many thanks to Osmosis for what I found to be a pretty tricky puzzle with his usual clever wordplay and no anagrams. I had some difficulty in deciding what to underline for a few clues.
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Toughie 3411

Toughie No 3411 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ****

Karla has upped the difficulty level a bit from his last Toughie but this is still relatively straightforward, albeit with a couple of words that I didn’t know. I enjoyed solving the puzzle – thanks Karla.
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Toughie 3403

Toughie No 3403 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Thanks to Silvanus for this very enjoyable puzzle which sets a high standard for Toughies in 2025 without being overly tough.
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Toughie 3399

Toughie No 3399 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty */**Enjoyment ***

Karla has given us a really gentle Toughie today, perhaps taking into account our possibly fragile condition after yesterday’s excesses. In his first Toughie he incorporated a very subtle Nina which nobody (including the blogger) spotted. I can’t see any Nina or theme today – can you?
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