Sunday Toughie No 240
by Light
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Light has given us a rather deceptive crossword today. A Spoonerism that isn’t and cricket references that aren’t crickety. A couple of the answers were easier to bung in than parse, but I think I have them now.
14a and 14d clues and I have hinted half. I will try and nudge some that hit the cutting room floor if asked.
13a, 16a and the non-spooner 3d are my favourites today; which ones did you like?
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 240 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3384 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where we are back into the high 20s feels like mid 30s for a few days.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirky as usual, reasonably friendly, with four long uns, only one of them an anagram, a meagre four anagrams in total (two partials), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in a not much value for the money symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3384 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3383 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg. So, the English Premier League is back for the 2026/27 season. Yesterday, I enjoyed watching Hull City getting off to a good start on their return to the top flight. No sign of Chelsea. Oh, I see that they are playing tomorrow evening. No doubt they will claim travel fatigue, after the long journey across SW6, if the result is not favourable for them 
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirky as usual but not quite so friendly as recently, with five anagrams (one partial), two lurkers, and one homophone, and, like last week, one that, at first look, you might think is a homophone but isn’t all in a not much value for the money symmetric 26 clues; with 13 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3383 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 238
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Beam with his 24th and 25th Sunday Toughie, has sandwiched Hudson’s first. Lots of Beam trademarks, including no anagrams, so I hope you find the checkers to finish today
A generous 16a and 16d clues, and I have hinted at half. I will try and nudge if any tricky clues haven’t survived the cutting room
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 238 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3382 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, after a ‘Soggy Saturday’, I am hoping for a ‘Sunny Sunday’ as I will be attending an outdoor memorial for the 81st anniversary of VJ Day.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly, with seven anagrams (four partials), no lurkers, three(!) homophones, and one that, at first look, you might think is a homophone but isn’t all in a not much value for the money symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3382 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 237
by Hudson
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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It is always a delight when a new Sunday Toughie setter appears, especially so when it is from Hudson who has 83 normal toughies and many more anonymous backpagers to his name.
That this was a pangram certainly helped with 7d, I bunged the missing letters in and parsed this later.
We have 15a and 15d clues today and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to cross the line, but will try and give a nudge if asked.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 237 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3381 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, across the country, wildfire season continues with investigators attempting to determine if the cause of a fire was natural, accidental, or criminal; sadly there is a significant number of the latter.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quite quirky and not so friendly, using his personal thesaurus in places, with a somewhat strange looking grid which required some lateral thinking; one long ‘un, eight anagrams (four partials), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in an asymmetric 31 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3381 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 236
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Beam has brought all his trademarks today, with a generous 16a and 16d clues today. I have hinted at half, but will try and give a nudge if asked.
Mama Bee wants to go shopping, so I may have to work around her needs.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 236 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3380 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, from late on Wednesday to quite early on Thursday, we had a doozy (N American informal) of a thunderstorm or so I am told as I was safe in the arms of Morpheus throughout the whole thing! But, I do know that we ‘lost’ power, as a result of the storm, for approximately 7 hours from 11;30 pm on Wednesday to 6:30 am on Thursday – I thought that my first coffee of the day was at risk!
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly with four long ‘uns (only one of them an anagram), only three anagrams (one partial), two lurkers, and one homophone, all in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3380 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3379 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg. Recall that four weeks ago I introduced the concept of ‘a ‘run’ of three ‘close together’ blogging milestones for me’; well, today is the second of those milestones my 400th Dada Sunday blog. However, only 99.5% perfect as, including today, there have been 402 Dada Sunday puzzles altogether, starting with the horror of ST 2978 on November 18th, 2018, with Crypticsue and Shabbo subbing for me once each,.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada very friendly with two long ‘uns, four anagrams (one partial), one lurker, and two(?) homophones, all in a very asymmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3379 (Hints)”