Toughie No 741 by Giovanni
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This was definitely a puzzle of two halves as far as I was concerned. I breezed through the bottom half with no problems whatsoever and it looked as though I was on the way to a very fast time. Then I got totally becalmed on the top half and had to fight for every single answer. In the end my time was way above average. So thanks to Giovanni for the challenge. It was most enjoyable.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26820
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is what a back-page puzzle should be like – not so easy that even the brain-dead can do it and not so difficult that only Einstein can solve it. Disagree if you like, but this is less-than-Toughie standard, and, surprise surprise, it’s from the hand of Ray T!
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Toughie No 740 by Elkamere
Your Starter for Ten …
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant and enjoyable mid-week Toughie from Elkamere with plenty of his usual penny-drop moments.
Do let us know how you got on and please click on one of the stars below to register your enjoyment factor.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26819
The Rain in Spain …
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Due to heavy rain in Spain, Pommers has temporarily lost his Internet connection, giving me the chance to review this puzzle from Jay. Many of you will find it to be light relief after yesterday’s puzzle!
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Toughie No 739 by Shamus
Bangers and Mash
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This Toughie from Shamus involves a lot of Tilsit’s wordsums making it a little difficult to get into, but once the grid started to fill, it became a lot easier. Parsing 1 down caused me a bit of grief, but I think I’ve got it right.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26818
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
If it felt like we were being caressed yesterday with a gentle breeze then we have a force 8 gale of a puzzle today which could well have been a Toughie. All the clues are perfectly fair though, even if they do require a considerable amount of perspiration. Let us know how you got on.
To reveal an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26817
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Once again I seem to have struggled more than I should have done. My excuse is the builders turned up to finish off a wall in the garden while I was halfway through the crossword, and that completely put me off my stride.
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Toughie No 738 by Myops
Better Late Than Never!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Calder Valley. Sorry for the lateness today, I’ve been at the hospital and only just got home. We have Myops today with a puzzle that wasn’t as ferocious as his last one, but still a stern test, especially if like me you didn’t have access to a dictionary to check one or two things. Lots of anagrams (including compound ones) and clever cryptic definitions feature today. Have to admit I still struggle to get on his wavelength and this probably affects my enjoyment of the puzzle.
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2630
A full review by gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Afternoon All! Apologies for the tardiness – I got stuck into drawing some floor plans and forgot to schedule the blog! A thoroughly excellent puzzle (again!) from Virgilius and again my puzzle if the week.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26815
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I’ve given this one four stars for difficulty because I struggled with a couple of clues (specially 6d), not so much to get the answers as to understand the wordplay. Let us know how you fared.
If you want to see an answer just highlight the spaces between the brackets under the clue (if you have a newfangled I-thingy or equivalent then there is some advice on how to reveal the answer in the FAQs).
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