Sunday Toughie No 190
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I wasn’t expecting Beam last night, Sunday Toughie 187 was his last outing, but even without the byline, you couldn’t mis-identify this. Concise clues (I don’t need to do the math to know he is well under six words per clue) Initial letters, a few bits of “ooh er missus” innuendo, Queens, sweethearts and policemen too.
A generous 16a and 16d clues today, and I have hinted half.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 190 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3334 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg and welcome to the Sunday Edition of Big Dave’s Book Crossword Club 
(Check Comment 16 in yesterday’s blog if you think I have lost my marbles, which I probably have.)
I feel a little sorry for the Wallaroos only being allowed to score one try yesterday. I wonder if Scotland will be allowed to score more than that today.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirky with some strange indicators and causing me a few problems in the NW – 7 anagrams (3 partials), no lurkers, and no homophones all in a slightly asymmetric 30 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should/might be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3334 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 189
by Light
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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Although I had a full grid in relatively quick time, parsing some took a bit of kip to allow them to dawn on me. A couple of football references and to one who wrote about that particular football club. A couple of references to orthodontics too. 25a was probably my favourite but much sniggering was had when revising the poet in 12a.
Now, which ones do I hint, “Ay, there’s the rub”? I have probably been a bit overgenerous in hints so I hope there are enough to give you the checkers to finish today.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 189 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3333 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg with a perfectly palindromic puzzle number (very Mary Poppins) – I wonder if we have any Numerologists in our company who can offer any wisdom that may exist on such a number/string of numbers.
I hope that Daisygirl is sitting down when she reads this – on Thursday, it was so cold (high temperature of 8.9 degrees), wet, and miserable that I had to give the Red Scarf an early outing!
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada very friendly, but with a couple of clues along with the number of anagrams that might raise some ire, 8 anagrams (5 partials), 2 lurkers, and no homophones all in symmetric 28; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3333 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3332 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg on this last day of Meteorological Summer. Personally, I am old fashioned so ‘my’ Summer will end Astronomically on the Autumnal Equinox in 22 days time.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada still friendly, with a grid that is slightly more ‘wonky’ than the one from two weeks ago, with 3 non-anagram long ‘uns, 6 anagrams (5 partials), 2 lurkers (one reversed), and 1 homophone all in 29 clues in a very asymmetric grid; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3332 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 187
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A floughier toughie from Beam today. We have a generous 16a and 16d clues today, and I have hinted at just under half of them. I have an allowance for a bonus nudge or two, but I don’t think you will need it today.
Plenty of Beam trademarks today and an impressive 5 1/4 word average.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 187 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3331 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, on Friday, I got home in time to watch the last 30 minutes of the Red Roses ‘making a statement’ in the opening match of the Rugby World Cup against the USA. But they had better be careful, Canada demonstrated their second in the ‘World Rankings’ status with their impressive win over Fiji yesterday (OK, I know Australia did pretty well too).
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada still friendly, but with some foreign language knowledge required, with 4 long ‘uns, 8 anagrams (5 partials), 1 lurker, and 1 homophone all in 28 clues in a symmetric grid; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3331 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3330 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where wild fires continue across the country and most provinces have ‘outside’ fire bans in place. In Newfoundland, fines for violating the ban have been increased significantly. For example, for a first offence the fine has been increased from $75 (seventy-five dollars) to $50,000 (fifty thousand dollars) and prison time if the offender cannot pay.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada at his friendliest with 6 anagrams (3 partials), 1 lurker, and 1 homophone all in what is probably the most asymmetric grid with 28 clues I have ever seen; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3330 (Hints)”
Sunday Toughie No 185
by Light
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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As I was solving this last night the following popped up on Bluesky;
Hi John
Assuming you’re on prize Toughie duty today, the interactive puzzle (Firefox / iMac) has ‘Kova?i?’ at 7d. It should be Kovačić. Obviously, some software doesn’t like the diacritics.
It’s fine in the facsimile of the newsprint version, so hopefully fine in the actual newspaper too.
Thanks
Michael
I hope that misprint didn’t affect your enjoyment of some lovely surfaces, and once I had revised my grammar prep and musical notation, I enjoyed this a lot.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 185 (Hints)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3329 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where the ‘back to school ads’ are starting to appear. Time for those who need to to start thinking about getting their offspring of all ages organised for September.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly with 2 long ‘uns, 8 anagrams (4 partials), 2 lurkers, and 1 homophone all in an asymmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints plus a bonus hint ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Continue reading “ST 3329 (Hints)”