Toughie Crosswords – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 3775

Toughie No 3775 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP

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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****

Typically elegant, albeit über-gentle for a Thursday Django. Not that I’m complaining as I have about a million way trickier fish to fry today! I enjoyed it. Over to you.

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Toughie 3774

Toughie No 3774 by Weatherman

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Weatherman set us a nice ‘start of the week’ Toughie with the possibility of learning some new words along the way

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Sunday Toughie 245 (full review)

Sunday Toughie No 245 by proXimal
Full Review by Gazza

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This puzzle was published on 04/10/26

proXimal has provided a very enjoyable Toughie this week.
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Toughie 3773

Toughie No 3773 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird

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BD Rating – Difficulty  *   –  Enjoyment ****

Welcome to another Toughie Week.  Thanks to Gazza for filling in last week whilst I was toiling away in the Santa Clara area:  Anna’s Hummingbird, Least and Elegant terns, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, White Pelican and Northern Harrier were amongst the incidental avian highlights.

We have an excellent puzzle from Shabbo today (and a rare example of being right with my morning “guess the setter” game).  There’s nothing too difficult, but the puzzle is very well crafted with generally concise but smooth-surfaced clues. 17a, 20d, 24a and 27a (lovely word) all stood out for me, but my absolute favourite today was the wonderful 1d – perfect on all fronts.  Thanks to Shabbo for another cracker!

Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle. 

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Sunday Toughie 246 (Hints)

Sunday Toughie No 246

by Hudson

 

Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee

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A second Sunday Toughie from Hudson, and I found it a tad easier than proXimal last week. The usual delays at Telegraph Towers at the start of the month didn’t happen, and I got off to a flying start at about 23:20.

I had to consult our golf correspondent to check 1a. Thanks, Andy. Some very nice surfaces here, and I don’t think it is too Toughie for a Sunday.

16a and 14d clues, and I have hinted at half. A couple of deeper dives into the BRB thesaurus and dictionary were required (14a 22d), but they were there.

I will try and give a nudge if you get stuck; just ask

 

Here we go, Folks…

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Toughie 3772

Toughie No 3772 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

Thanks to Sparks for a very enjoyable puzzle containing some cunning bits of misdirection.… Continue reading

Toughie 3771

Toughie No 3771 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP

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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment **/***

Very relaxed for a Thursday Toughie, with a one-in-four anagram count adding further grease to the wheel. Is it just me or is the leap to a Friday Elgar growing wider by the week? ‘Twas alway a step-up – and rightly so – but the gap now seems interplanetary! The floor, as ever, is yours.

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Toughie 3770

Toughie No 3770 by Silvanus

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****

Unusually for both a Wednesday and a Silvanus crossword, I found this to be a proper Toughie – my favourite Across clue was 28a and my favourite Down clue was 8d, as both of them mde me smile

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