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 No 3761 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment *****
A perfectly-pitched and excellent puzzle to start the Toughie Week, very much in harmony with the Wirral’s clear blue skies and just a hint of early-morning crispness this morning. One new word for me, and a few where it took me a little bit of thinking to separate the crossword clue from the ultra-smooth surfaces, so I’ve upgraded the difficulty rating half a notch. No issues with the enjoyment, though; a delight from start to finish. Too many top-notch clues to list, and even choosing a favourite is impossible, so I’m giving out four prizes to the perimeter clues.
Thanks, Hudson, for a cracker of a puzzle!
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3745 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie week.
Hudson has given us a puzzle which feels just about the perfect level for a Tuesday Toughie. There’s nothing outrageously obscure (the Scottish chimney being a possible exception but that crops up reasonably regularly) but there are a fair few that required some thinking about. And all that with a good sprinkling of top-notch surfaces. There’s been quite a lot of congestion around the podium, but I’m going with 26a, 12d and 23a just being pipped by 14a. But 4a really needs an honourable mention too. Thank you, Hudson, for a wonderful start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Sunday Toughie No 237 by Hudson
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 09/08/26
What a lovely surprise to find that Hudson has joined the ranks of the Sunday Toughie setters with this cracking puzzle.
Across Clues
1a Fish cut by sailor (8)
SKIPJACK: a verb to cut or skive off (school, say) and a common word (often followed by ‘tar’) for a sailor. Continue reading “Sunday Toughie No 237 (full review)”
Sunday Toughie No 237
by Hudson
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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It is always a delight when a new Sunday Toughie setter appears, especially so when it is from Hudson who has 83 normal toughies and many more anonymous backpagers to his name.
That this was a pangram certainly helped with 7d, I bunged the missing letters in and parsed this later.
We have 15a and 15d clues today and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to cross the line, but will try and give a nudge if asked.
Here we go, Folks…
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 237 (Hints)”
Toughie No 3725 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie Week.
We have another perfectly-pitched Tuesday Toughie from Hudson. Nothing too tricky, but plenty to get the cogs ticking over and a lot of very clever surfaces, some of which assist the solve, and some of which are misdirections. 5d, 8a, 18a, 22d and 26a are all great clues that any other day could have made top spot, but I’m giving my Gold Star to 25a today.
Thank you, Hudson, for a very enjoyable start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3713 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings! We have a high-quality offering today from Hudson, to whom many thanks. Perfectly pitched for a Tuesday, I feel, with a good few needing a bit of careful consideration and some less-than-common vocabulary, but nothing too tricky, although 1a had me digging around a bit. The clues are all scrupulously fair and there are many great surfaces. 1a, 3d, 5d, 9a, 14d and 19d were my particular favourites.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3693 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
We have a very entertaining puzzle from Hudson today, and whilst there are a few slight obscurities, these are not at the extreme end of the scale in Crosswordland. It did take me a fair while to get into the swing, which I’m blaming on an unusual excursion into solving outdoors, but once I got a couple of handles, it all went in fairly smoothly. We have a few footballing/sporting references, plenty of geography and a couple of Addams family references, but nothing that really amounts to a theme that I can see. There is a whole bunch of clues that would get podium places in any normal week, notably 1d, 8d, 10a, 14d, 19d and 27a, but I’m giving my prize today to 23a. Thank you, Hudson, for a top-notch puzzle.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3677 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings! For today, and next week, you find me in beautiful Dumfries and Galloway enjoying a loch-side lodge and the avian cacophony created by Canada and Greylag geese, with a supporting chorus of Little Grebe, Cuckoo and assorted warblers (sedge and willow primarily). So far the weather is more Mediterranean than Hibernian, so no complaints on that score!
We have a relatively gentle puzzle from Hudson today, to whom, many thanks. I added an extra half star for difficulty because of a couple of pieces of General Knowledge I didn’t have, but nothing that wasn’t clearly indicated by the clues. I was on Pangram alert after getting 25a early one with lots of other “high value” letters cropping up, but in the end, that only made the solve harder, given that we are lacking a W, so trying to squeeze one in was a waste of time. 23a, 4d and 14d occupy my podium places this week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3661 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie week.
We have another high-quality puzzle from Hudson today. There is a martial theme, or at least a connection between several of the clues, although I am not sure if there is an underlying reason for the link: I am happy enough to have noticed a theme of any kind! I thought I was heading for solving in Floughie time, but then a combination of solving 15d and parsing 20d and 24a took this comfortably into ** territory. I hope you have your lexicographic secateurs to hand, there’s a fair bit of pruning to be done.
Once the penny dropped for 20d, this jumped right to the top of my prize list by a distance, which is perhaps rather unfair on 13a and 29a, as either of these could have been “Top Clue” in other puzzles. Thank you, Hudson, for a wonderful start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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