Toughie No 231 by Firefly
Is this one tough enough for you?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
I sometimes wonder about the affect this blog is having on the setters. Firefly, known elsewhere as Glow-worm, was the first to leave a comment on the blog, way back in February (Toughie 92) and his puzzles do seem to be getting steadily tougher. This is the first one of his to get close to making me lose my bonus points on CluedUp! While I enjoyed the puzzle there were a number of instances where I had to guess an answer from the checking letters and then pick my way through the wordplay afterwards.
Feel free, as ever, to leave a comment and don’t forget to give us your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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Toughie No 215 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I struggled more than I usually do with a Firefly puzzle despite getting the 4d/16a/18a combination, that is the key to several other clues, very early on. Very enjoyable stuff, with only a few “easy” clues.
Feel free to add your comments.
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Toughie No 198 by Firefly
Like a Dental Appointment
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Apologies for my late arrival, my hospital appointment over-ran and a traffic delay also threw a spanner in the works.
Quite a tough struggle today and a real sense of achievement when the last letter went into the grid. Firefly in all his print guises, produces some really ferocious challenges and today’s was no exception. However I should say that some of the clues today left a bit to be desired and I have covered those in the blog.
I suspect that 29ac will provide many of the talking points today. Have your say at the end of the blog. New posters should note that their first posts may take a little time to appear, this is because first posts are checked to stop spammers from hijacking things. Don’t forget the star ratings at the end of the review as well. Click on your rating to tell everyone what you thought of it.
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Toughie No 183 by Firefly
Another fine puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
To be honest, this was light relief after yesterday’s marathon. You need to get 5 down early on otherwise a large section of the puzzle will be made more difficult than necessary.
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Toughie No 174 by Firefly
Teacher…. Mother…….Secret Lover
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
As the warm-up man for Big Dave and his battle with Excalibur tomorrow, I am usually full of praise for the Thursday setters. I am also a big fan of Firefly in his other setting alias, but for some reason, this is just not my cup of coffee (I can’t stand tea!!). I was quite looking forward to it, but just found that some of the clues lacked the invention and difficulty that we normally get from him.
For some reason I am reminded of the end of an epsiode of The Simpsons, where they do a send-up of Stephen King’s The Shining. I had a tough night last night with the heat and lack of air, despite having all the windows open and running the risk of bats flying in. However, I was looking forward to logging in and having a good battle today, but like Homer I was disappointed and the urge to kill rises…..(actually the urge to go and have a snooze rises!)
ARVE Error: need id and provider
Anyway, enough whimsy, let’s go. My basic feeling that this was probably no tougher than a normal daily puzzle. I was quite convinced for some time that there was a mistake in the grid, but then my recent stays as a guest of the NHS came to the rescue. Should Toughie puzzles have four letter anagrams? Continue reading “Toughie 174”
Toughie No 153 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is a very enjoyable Toughie with some excellent and amusing clues. Some of the wordplay is tricky and it’s a good idea to claw your way into it by picking off an easy clue (like 24d) or an obvious anagram (like 27a) first, in order to get as many checking letters as possible before you start on the harder clues.
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Toughie No 138 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Much irritation to start the day, on-line solving access to the Toughie is not available at midnight . As I have no printer access, I have to draw up my own grid and solve from the clues on screen.
There was much to be admired in today’s puzzle, but there were one or two quite major queries for me. I really didn’t like 1 across and I am really unsure of the definition of 12 across. I have also given up on 21 across after it nearly reacted with my sleeping medication to give me hallucinations.
I’d like to nominate 26 across as this puzzle’s entry into Clue of the Week. Certainly made me smile.
Thanks to Firefly for an enjoyable and thought-provoking challenge.
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Toughie No 116 by Firefly
Another very enjoyable Toughie
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I had a strong start, getting both 1a and 1d immediately, and I thought I was on a roll. I got a bit lost in the middle and then it all fell into place towards the end.
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Toughie No 101 by Firefly
Firefly sets another very enjoyable puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This is the latest in a run of good Toughie crosswords. Not so Tough that you can’t finish it, but it gives you a warm glow of satisfaction when you do. Don’t forget that the linked items usually contain information related to the answer – sometimes you may need to look at the url (the bit that starts http://).
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Toughie No 92 by Firefly
A challenging puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
I was racing through this one, with thoughts of a relatively early night, when suddenly I hit a brick wall in the bottom right hand corner. At least three out of the five difficulty stars are for this corner – see what you think.
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