Solutions – Page 814 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 356

Toughie No 356 by Petitjean

‘Oi, leave it aht, orwright!

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

We have a thoroughly entertaining and laugh-provoking Toughie from Petitjean today. It contains some brilliantly-constructed clues with good surface readings. It also has several clues based on Cockney and rapper-speak (one of which I can’t explain fully).
Let us know whether you enjoyed it as much as I did, and please don’t forget to click on one of the stars below to indicate how you rate it.

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DT 26244

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26244

Hints and tips by Big Dave

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Another enjoyable puzzle from Jay. I particularly liked 12 across.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

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Toughie 355

Toughie No 355 by Campbell

A Festival of Fire and Vampyres!

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

A entertaining, if straightforward, puzzle from Campbell. A certain amount of General Knowledge is required, but most of this will be familiar to regular solvers.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

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DT 26243

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26243

Hints and tips by Gazza

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

We have a pleasurable 5d from Shamus today with only two anagrams (that’s a plus point for me and earns it an extra enjoyment star!). I can’t remember a Telegraph puzzle with fewer than this. As always we’re very keen to hear your views, so please keep the comments coming.
If you can’t get an answer even with the hint, drag your cursor through the space between the curly brackets under the clue and it should reveal itself.

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DT 26242

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26242

Hints and tips by Libellule

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

Another very enjoyable Monday morning ramble through a Rufus crossword. How many of you were left with 18a and 19a as the last clues to go in?

If you want to see the answers directly, just highlight the space between the curly brackets. All comments appreciated.

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ST 2535

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2535

A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe

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

No great difficulty with this one – just the smooth surfaces and fair clues that we expect. The grid consisting entirely of 5, 7, and 9 letter words probably helps to make it easy – these are the bread and butter of 15×15 grid-fill.

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Toughie 354

Toughie No 354 by Elgar

The girls at 45

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

Well, this was a struggle – but an immensely satisfying one. I don’t expect total agreement with my star ratings, but it seems likely that many of you will call it either 4/5 or 5/4. The difficulty came from clever clueing rather than obscurity – in fact there was only one bit (a wordplay component) I needed to look up.

It took a long time to get going, with only four answers placed on my first run through, but in the end, when I looked back on it, my very slow solve was down to absolutely fair deception from the setter. There aren’t really any LOL moments but plenty of “Oh, you clever bugger”. There was some extra help when I noticed the likelihood of four symmetrically placed girls’ names and I wondered if the grid contained any further thematic material, but I haven’t spotted anything so far. Another thing I noticed was a generous smattering of modern phrases and colloquialisms which certainly helped to give the puzzle an air of freshness and originality.

Favourite clues are in blue.

Please leave a comment with your thoughts on the puzzle. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.

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DT 26240

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26240

Hints and tips by Gazza

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

We have a typical Giovanni today, a good mixture of clues but nothing too exciting. Let us know your views in a comment.
For new readers, the answers are hidden between the curly brackets under the relevant clues. Just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets to reveal the solution.

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Toughie 353

Toughie No 353 by Busman

The Busman’s Holiday is over!

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BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

I had a few pints with Big Dave at the White Horse on Saturday and foolishly offered to do a bit of blogging for him. So here’s the result.

I must admit to not being too familiar with the Toughie crossword so I didn’t know what to expect. I was disappointed with it because I found it somewhat on the easy side. But it was a pleasant enough solve with only one or two things that I had to check.

[My subheading refers to the fact that Busman’s last Toughie was published on 25th March. BD]

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DT 26235

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26235

A full review by Gnomethang

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BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ***

Morning All! Following our recent meeting at the White Horse, Parson’s Green (where we were discussing the cutting edge of crossword theory) BD asked if I might like to take on the Saturday review. Working full time precludes getting a review out on the day so this is a perfect compromise as I have 4 days to get the writing done. Thanks to BD for the opportunity (I was going to suggest it anyway!).

Whilst there were a few obscure and abstruse words here they were in general clued sufficiently clearly to allow solving (with maybe a dictionary confirmation afterwards). The two star rating reflects my solving experience as compared to some recent Cephas puzzles but please let us know what you think.

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