Toughie No 865 by Excalibur
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Big Dave for standing in for me again last week. I appear to have left him with a brute of a puzzle but I have to emphasise that I had no prior warning that it was going to be so difficult. However I feel certain that he would have preferred to blog that puzzle rather than this week’s Excalibur puzzle. I thought that this was a reasonable puzzle which took me an above-average time. But steady progress was made once I’d got my brain into ‘solving an Excalibur puzzle’ mode and was able to deal with the unconventional order of words used especially in container clues (or Yoda-speak as Big Dave calls it [I can’t claim the credit for that one, Tilsit was the first to use it back in July 2009. BD]).
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Toughie No 845 by Excalibur
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
After a slow start I made steady progress until I was left with one to do. That was 6 down and I had difficulty with it because I had convinced myself that since the answer was plural it must end in S. I enjoyed the puzzle and thought it was as good an Excalibur puzzle as I have ever blogged.
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Toughie No 820 by Excalibur
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Finding out that the Toughie you have to blog is by Excalibur doesn’t generally provoke whoops of joy, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I think that in terms of difficulty it’s just about the right level for a midweek Toughie, it has no obscure words and it has a number of entertaining clues.
Let us know what you thought and please record your enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Toughie No 799 by Excalibur
Not for me
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Not one of my favourite puzzles.
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Toughie No 779 by Excalibur
Surprise, Surprise!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Yes, I was surprised as this is not a bad puzzle. A few minor quibbles, but overall a big improvement on recent crosswords from this setter.
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Toughie No 761 by Excalibur
Utter tripe? by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A fellow blogger (not BD) sent me an email describing this puzzle as “utter tripe”. I wouldn’t quite go that far. I agree that technically it’s not very good but I found it a pleasant enough solve. Maybe it’s because I’m partial to tripe that I’m being generous and awarding it 3* (rather than 2*) for enjoyment. I have now blogged 9 Excalibur puzzles and have given 7 of them 3* for enjoyment. Other bloggers have blogged a total of about 35 Excalibur puzzles and have never awarded more than 2* for enjoyment. What do other people think of them?
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Toughie No 743 by Excalibur
More of the same
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
If you’ve solved an Excalibur puzzle before then you will know what to expect, so there is little I can add.
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Toughie No 723 by Excalibur
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
No comment from me, but please feel free to leave your own 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 704 by Excalibur
An Outbreak of 4-Letter Words
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
When I found out last night that my task today was to review an Excalibur puzzle I wasn’t too disappointed because I thought that her previous one was pretty good. Sadly, this one isn’t! It’s nowhere near Toughie standard and many of the clues are weak (this is not helped by the grid having no less than fourteen four-letter words).
Please let us know how you found the puzzle and take the time to register your enjoyment of it by clicking on one of the stars below.
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Toughie No 679 by Excalibur
Something to celebrate?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
Today marks 25 years of crosswords like this by, and I quote, “one of the stars of the crossword world“.
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