Sunday Toughie No 178 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 22nd June 2025
Tag: 178
Sunday Toughie 178 (Hints)
Sunday Toughie No 178
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A great Toughie from Zandio today, I managed to see it at about 11:30 last night and it didn’t take me much past midnight to fill the grid. Parsing it this morning took longer. The Spoonerism and nod to our new Tuesday Toughie blogger is probably my favourite today, but plenty of podium candidates.
I don’t think it is sufficient to call a theme but a couple of military units hit the cutting room floor, and another sneaks into 28a. I will try and nudge unhinted clues, if you identify some or all of the picture for 28a
We have 14a and 16d clues today and I have hinted half.
Toughie 178
Toughie No 178 by Messinae
Just Like That? Not a Lot!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *** – (CluedUp Site Difficulty **************)
Very irritating today. Not the puzzle, but the blooming CluedUp website. I logged in to do the puzzle and finished it, and was chugging along writing the blog. Funnily enough at the time I thought that it didn’t feel like a Messinae puzzle. Visited this lovely site and then saw Gazza’s blog on the same puzzle! Checked in to Clued-Up again and got a different puzzle!
So we start again, a bit late! This was a really nice puzzle to solve (unlike his current fiendish Listener puzzle, which is a s*d!) and contains one of the best clues I have seen in a while. However I think there’s a problem with one of the other clues.
Off we go, let me have your thoughts below.