Toughie No 247 by Elgar
Like for unlike
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Tackling this one at 1am was possibly not a great idea – a bit of a struggle. Finally slotted the last bits, then went back to see what had held me up. Mostly it was instances of implied double meanings and puns whose grammar didn’t seem to stack up, but I suppose when the intention is to raise a few smiles – which, in fairness, they did – the setter deserves to be given some latitude.
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Toughie No 233 by Elgar
More Repeats than UK Gold
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
When I printed this puzzle off from Clued-Up and scanned the clues, my first reaction was that there had been another cock-up at our favourite site. But no, the apparent errors are all deliberate and part of a theme of repetition, duplication and repetition. I had to go out to buy a paper to find out the name of the setter – I had thought that maybe we had a new one, and I was very surprised to find the name of Elgar, not least because he is normally firmly anchored to the Friday slot. It certainly has a different feel to the usual Elgar puzzles, and I suspect that solvers will either love it or hate it with no fence-sitting – I am firmly in the “love it” camp.
As always we welcome your comments – and please give your opinion of the puzzle by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom of the review.
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Toughie No 223
About as Tough as a Toughie can be!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Following some recent comments, I would like to reiterate that this blog, like millions of other blogs on the World Wide Web, expresses the personal views of the various contributors. Just as with music, some people love a particular artist and others hate them (I personally can’t stand Elton John or Rap music). Should you disagree with those views, you are more than welcome to comment; I have yet to refuse a comment other than spam, and these are trapped by a filter from Akismet. If you have not yet read the Disclaimer then please do.
Today’s puzzle is a breath of fresh air for those of us that are avid Ximeneans and like our Toughies to be tough but fair. Is it too tough in places? Probably. But then we deserve this kind of challenge from time to time.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 207 by Elgar
The Toughest Toughie yet?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *****+ – Enjoyment ****
I always look forward to a puzzle when I see that Elgar is the setter. This one was extremely tough and maybe, for some of you, too tough. I did manage to complete all but the 20a/23d clues in the printed version but needed trial and error on CluedUp to complete the job. The review will take a little while to prepare (and a gallon of coffee as well!) so I have provided all of the answers in the interim.
Feel free to discuss, via the comments, your views on this puzzle. Unlike a certain other website, (did I say what when multiplied by itself gives 225?) we are happy to take all of your comments, on or off topic, as we regard this as a forum not an academy for the elite. You don’t need a degree in gobbledygook here!
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Toughie No 199 by Elgar
Paradise Lost?
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Regular followers of the blog will know that I am a fully paid-up member of the Elgar fan club. While, in general, I enjoyed the puzzle, I thought that the wordplay on a few of the clues crossed over that elusive line between fair and unfair. I will be very interested to know what you thought, especially if you have a different interpretation of any of the wordplays.
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Toughie No 186 by Elgar
Outrageous Stuff!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Unless you know different, as a woman with big teeth used to say on TV, today’s Toughie breaks new ground. I don’t think that crosswords in the DT have had more than one or two cross-referencing clues. Today’s had quite a few and that added to the fun. Obviously you had to solve these to proceed further with other clues.
This was a Toughie to savour and it had everything including some absolutely top-drawer clues. My only tiny grumble was that where answers were linked – like 22, 10 and 23, 2 down, in other publications the complete indications are shown at the first answer. It just confused me a little.
Where to start? Probably with the three letter answers. They are quite good ways to get into the puzzles with quite friendly clues.
What did you think about it? Feel free to comment after the analysis.
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On with the motley and let’s go!
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Toughie No 171 by Elgar
One of Elgar’s easier Toughies!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
While still tougher than most, I found this Toughie from Elgar to be a bit easier than usual. I managed, or hope I did, to unravel all but one of the clues unaided.
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Toughie No 163 by Elgar
The Rolls Royce of Toughies!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
How I look forward to alternate Fridays! It took me quite a while to get into the CluedUp site this morning, but it was well worth the wait. The hardest thing about Elgar’s puzzles is not finding the answers (which is difficult at the best of times) but getting a full resolution of the wordplay.
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Toughie No 155 by Elgar
This one went off the top end of the difficulty scale!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
When you see Elgar’s name you know you are in for a difficult time. This one is certainly no exception. There were a mere handful of relatively easy clues, and some where, despite getting the answer, I have struggled to get all of the wordplay. If you have seen anything that I missed, please add a comment.
Elgar was at the Sloggers and Betters evening last week, but he didn’t warn me that this one was in the pipeline.
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Toughie No 147 by Elgar
Another five star performance from Elgar
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Once again Elgar serves up a Toughie that is worthy of the name. Always tough, always enjoyable, each answer has to be carefully extracted. Even after I had completed it, I still had to sort out the wordplay for four of the clues.
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