Sunday Toughie No 152 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 22nd December
Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Sunday Toughie No 152 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 22nd December
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My last blog before Santa Clause Comes to Town It isn’t terribly Christmassy so I will decorate the blog with a few Christmassy bits and pieces.
We have 14a and 14d clues and I have tried to limit hints to half, but a few bonus hints may pop up here and there

Here we go…
Sunday Toughie No 147 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 17th November
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Zandio with his usual entertaining not to tuff tuffie. I found it quite hard to choose which clues to hint but here are half of 14a and 14d clues and I hope there are enough checkers to get you over the line
There are quite a few literary references to styles of writings from Aesop to Hans Christian Anderson but I may be going 16a to call it a theme
Here we go…
Sunday Toughie No 144 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 27th October
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Many thanks to Zandio who sent me an advance copy of the puzzle as I will be/am boozing with crossword peeps at the S&B in York. Fortunately, this puzzle was not as “Gross” as its number suggests and apart from not knowing enough about RFK Jr it was a not-too-tuff tuffie
Along with the Sunday Toughie, Zandio sent the GK puzzle that appears next to the toughie and for those interested in all things Sloggers & Betters I believe there is a bit of a theme to be discovered
We have 14a and 14d clues today and as has become my practice I have hinted just under half, A bonus nudge may be available if required but bear in mind I may be feeling a little hungover after the aforementioned boozing
Here we go…
Sunday Toughie No 141 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 6th of October 2024
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I managed to get hold of this at about 11:20 last night and had it largely filled in by Midnight, some not-too-tricky parsing and a bit of formatting and I was off to the land of nod fairly early on.
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half, A couple of lurkers and anagrams both whole and partial should fill most of the gaps but I will try and give a bonus hint for clues that didn’t make the cut
Here we go…
Sunday Toughie No 138 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 15th of September 2024
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Zandio with a not-too-tuff tuffie today, not much harder than his Friday back pager. I hope I haven’t dropped a catch by changing from Go West and a cricket catch to a more obvious place to go in 3a but I am sure the answer is correct even if my parsing fails
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half. If you remember the maxim “when in doubt look for a lurker you should get enough checkers to fill the lights
Here we go…