Toughie No 3604 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This is fairly gentle for a Friday Toughie but very enjoyable – thanks to Karla.
Continue reading “Toughie 3604”
Category: Toughie Crosswords
Toughie 3603
Toughie No 3603 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
An absolute joy from Silvanus today. Very classy indeed. We’ve got sport, alcohol and naked dancing. What’s not to like? Just chuck in a board game or two and you’ve got the perfect Christmas! It’s all typically immaculate and fair. And, most importantly, great fun. Over to you.
Toughie 3602
Toughie No 3602 by Weatherman
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A welcome return from Weatherman. As ever, the construction is immaculate and definitions fair, making for a steady solve. Yes, there is some pretty exotic vocab here – but it’s all generously clued. Still, I’ve tacked an extra difficulty pip on, largely for 5d and 9d. Typically, he’s made my bid to clip tunes extremely difficult, which no doubt comes as a great relief. Alas, I haven’t been totally defeated! Over to you. Continue reading “Toughie 3602”
Sunday Toughie 202 (Review)
Sunday Toughie No 202 by Beam
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 7th of December 2025
Toughie 3601
Toughie No 3601 by Zenas
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Greetings all, and welcome to the Toughie Week.
We have an enjoyable and not-too-difficult puzzle from Zenas today, with a clear theme, but without the associated potential headaches. There were a couple of new words for me (9a and 11d), but they were obtainable by simply following the clear instructions, so no complaints on that score. The “point” reference in 7d was also new. 1d and 2d get honourable mentions for the surface and imagery, and 8d is very clever, but 3d takes my prize today, despite being my last one in. I knew the answer as soon as the theme emerged, but it took a while for the penny to drop to the point where I was satisfied enough to write it in. Many thanks to Zenas for the puzzle, and inducing a bit of early-morning thirst!
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Sunday Toughie 203 (Hints)
Sunday Toughie No 203
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A rather gentle toughie from Zandio, I thought, but YMMV.
14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted at half. I hope you find the checkers to finish this. As ever I am unable to hint all of this prize puzzle, but I will try and give a nudge or two if I can.
Here We Go…
Toughie 3600
Toughie No 3600 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
Elgar provides his usual mixture of a few gimmes and quite a lot of head-scratchers. I enjoyed battling through it. Thanks to him.
The clue which gave me most problems was 4d and I’m not totally convinced that I understand the ‘shepherd’ bit so do shout out if you have a better idea than mine. [Deansleigh61 has come to the rescue with the correct parsing – see his comment] Continue reading “Toughie 3600”
Toughie 3599
Toughie No 3599 by Beam
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
As ever with Beam, this isn’t too tricky – as long as your phaser is set to synonym. Some are perhaps slightly more left-field than usual but nowt too alarming. Great fun to be had, with only a little thesaurus-thumbing. And not just one sweetheart today, but two, possibly to make up for the Queen’s absence! All yours.
Continue reading “Toughie 3599”
Toughie 3598
Toughie No 3598 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
We have a fairly light but very entertaining puzzle from Hudson with many well-disguised definitions. Thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3598”
Toughie 3597
Toughie No 3597 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Well, what a treat Dada has handed us today to brighten a damp, grey, uninspiring UK morning! It is pretty mwah on the Wirral anyway, although thankfully we’ve been spared any excessive winds – so far. Apart from my initial horror at seeing all those unchecked initial letters when first looking at the grid, this was a pleasure from start to finish. The wordplay is wonderful, the clues concise and full of subtle mis-directions, although nothing too drastic; and a difficulty level just enough to get the brain cells working, but not over-heating. I’ve added an extra star for difficulty given the length of time it took me to sort out 6d, before leafing through the options in Dr Roget’s magnum opus made me see the light.
I have smiley faces all over my paper this morning – this was definitely a crossword that pressed all the right buttons for me. I love the wordplay in 6a, 18a, 5d, 17d and 22d; the surfaces in 2d and 23d; and the clever connection between 10a and 11a. However, I’ve decided to give today’s gold star to 18d.
Thank you, Dada, for an absolute delight!
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.