Toughie No 526 by Notabilis
Hints and tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the sunny Calder Valley. I managed to escape from the clutches of Calderdale Hospital and am getting back to a state of normality. Looking forward to the annual Listener Crossword Dinner tomorrow night in Sheffield. Incidentally, if anyone is in the Sheffield area tomorrow afternoon, a number of your favourite setters, including Elgar will be gathering for a natter at The Sheffield Tap in the railway station, and you will be given a warm welcome if you arrive there as well. Anytime from about 12 noon. Unfortunately, I have an important FA engagement which will prevent me from joining them, although if the promised snow materialises, I will be there.
Today we have a lovely puzzle by one of our finest setters which for me is the perfect Toughie. Indeed, this was a real Toughie for me, as I struggled with several clues that normally I wouldn’t have. I suspect my biorhythms are a bit out of kilter today. Thanks to BD for a couple of nudges.
Continue reading “Toughie 526”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26497
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Giovanni has delivered a very entertaining puzzle today. Let us know how you liked it in a comment.
If you want to see an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
Continue reading “DT 26497”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26492
A full review by Gnomethang
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!. This Saturday was the turn of our mystery setter and once again we have been given a good, honest puzzle with some excellent clues. Continue reading “DT 26492”
Toughie No 525 by Excalibur
Hints and tips by Bufo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
BD apologised when he sent me this Excalibur puzzle to blog but, in fact, I didn’t find it too bad. I didn’t care for some of the definitions used and I could nitpick and find fault with several of the clues. But overall I thought it was fair enough
Continue reading “Toughie 525”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26496
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Suspecting that today would be Ray T’s turn I tackled the Quick crossword first. To my surprise there were three words rather than one in the clue for 22 down – is this a rare aberration or has someone tinkered with the puzzle before publication? This puzzle certainly is typical of Ray and I’m sure he will be along later to confirm.
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Toughie No 524 by Giovanni
Polymaths Required!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Giovanni has given us a Toughie which covers a broad spectrum of knowledge from Greek mythology to jazz musician via a meteor shower. As always his definitions are very precise and his wordplay is exceedingly fair. I struggled with it a bit (especially 4d) but enjoyed it a lot.
Let us know how you got on in a comment and please don’t forget to signal how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars below.
Continue reading “Toughie 524”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26495
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Once more unto the breach dear friends! Another nice Wednesday puzzle, presumably from Jay, with the usual couple of tricky clues to make one think.
While I was solving this one I thought 2* but looking at my time I have to give it 3*. There are a couple of long anagrams which aren’t hard clues to crack but they always slow me down so perhaps the 2* is more accurate. Be interested to see what others think.
Thanks again to the Technical Director for the photos and funny video.
Continue reading “DT 26495”
Toughie No 523 by Cephas
As tough as a comfy pair of old slippers!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Once again Tuesday brings us a Toughie of difficulty comparable with the regular back-page cryptic. A couple of little-known definitions were relatively easy to work out from the wordplay.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26494
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
We have an enjoyable and not too taxing puzzle this morning – I presume that it’s by one of our mystery setters. Let us know how you liked it in a comment.
To see an answer highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
Continue reading “DT 26494”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26493
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
We have had a bright and sunny weekend here in the Touraine, so lots of gardening chores have been done. The weather is still bright and sunny today, although cold. As for the crossword – it presented no major problems today, all in all – simply a pleasant solve.
Continue reading “DT 26493”