Toughie No 3444 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Sparks for the enjoyable Friday Toughie. He very often gives us something extra in the grid – I can’t see anything today (the only letters missing are J, Q, X and Z which are the four highest Scrabble scorers but I doubt whether that’s significant). Have you spotted anything?
Update: See the comment from Retiefus below – the Nina starts at the final character of 3d. Continue reading “Toughie 3444”
Toughie No 3440 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *****+ – Enjoyment ***
The Nina round the edge of the grid sums up what a lot of people are bound to say about this Elgar Toughie.
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Toughie No 3436 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Karla makes a very welcome visit to the Friday Toughie slot – many thanks to him for the enjoyable challenge.
The right-hand side went in pretty quickly for me but the left slowed me down. I didn’t know the 9a record, the 1d plum or the 18a mammal but all were very fairly clued.
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Toughie No 3432 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
A fine Friday Toughie from Elgar – not as brain-mangling as many of his crosswords, but a fun solve from start to finish.
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Toughie No 3428 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Thanks to Osmosis for a Friday-level Toughie which I enjoyed working through. I was slow to start but eventually gained a foothold in in the SW corner and proceeded slowly but steadily in a clockwise direction, finishing in the SE. Osmosis has given us a lot of clever wordplay and no anagrams.
Continue reading “Toughie 3428”