Toughie No 718 by Firefly
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley. Our Friday Fiend is Firefly who has produced an interesting and challenging puzzle that will delight some, and perhaps infuriate others. I found it more enjoyable than some of his recent offerings but I found a couple of clues that could only be solved once I had the answer, which isn’t the point of a crossword, as far as I am aware, in other words a bit too clever for their own good. I’d be interested to see if anyone managed to solve 12 across without getting all the intersecting letters. Lots of clever surface readings but again the odd one that doesn’t quite work for me.
I looked around for a theme, or a Nina, especially given the grid used, but couldn’t see anything other than a linked clue.