Shamus – Page 6 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 1176

Toughie No 1176 by Shamus

No grumpiness today!

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

I didn’t need to be grumpy today because I enjoyed this puzzle even though it wasn’t all that difficult and I did have trouble with some of the wordplay (especially for 21 down). At least my grumpiness last week seemed to lead to an increase in the number of comments. This was most welcome following the previous Thursday’s record low of 6 comments

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Toughie 1144

Toughie No 1144 by Shamus

Hints and tips by Bufo

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

I filled in the two long answers immediately and thought that the puzzle was going to be a doddle. It turned out to be more difficult than that and some of the wordplay was quite testing.

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Toughie 1100

Toughie No 1100 by Shamus

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

Another steady solve of a puzzle that was neither too easy nor too hard. There were 2 or 3 words I hadn’t heard of but none of them caused a problem.

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Toughie 1084

Toughie No 1084 by Shamus

Hints and tips by Bufo

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

I think this is a puzzle of average difficulty but I made heavier weather of it than I should have done and so I have added half a star to the difficulty rating. It was a pleasant enough puzzle.

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Toughie 1070

Toughie No 1070 by Shamus

Who wants to be a crossword solver?

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

This puzzle by Shamus is an excellent start to the Toughie week, and above-average for a Tuesday.

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Toughie 1056

Toughie No 1056 by Shamus

15-Letter Anagram Day

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

I was obviously not on good anagram-solving form this morning because I made heavy weather of 3 of the 4 long anagrams. As a result this puzzle took me longer than it should have done. I suspect that anyone who solved these anagrams quickly would have found this to be a fairly simple puzzle.

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