Toughie No 240 by Notabilis
The Iceman Cometh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
For some reason I really struggled on both the crossword and on deriving the word play when I was doing the crossword and also when I was writing the blog, and only finished the blog with a little help from Gazza.
Not the sort of Toughie I usually expect to deal with on a Tuesday. However it was enjoyable, and had a number of great clues such as 5d for example. I was particularly pleased when I finished it.
Please let us know what you think via a comment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26070
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Regular solvers will recognise the style of today’s setter, and he has produced another puzzle to make you think and make you smile.
For those who want to see the answers, they are hidden inside the curly brackets under each clue – just highlight the white space inside the brackets to reveal them.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26069
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
You know just what to expect from the Monday Maestro, and once again he delivers. Rufus is universally recommended by all in Crosswordland as the best setter for those new to cryptic puzzles. This is a relatively easy one but a pleasure to solve.
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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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 2506
A full analysis by Peter Biddlecombe
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Much easier than last week for me, but there’s plenty to see. First, a bit of symmetry – half-turn rotational symmetry still applies when you’ve drawn in little bars to mark word breaks in multi-word answers.
Legend: (act)* indicates an anagram of act
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Toughie No 239 by Shamus
Hints and tips by Anax
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A four-star difficulty rating? Well, I struggled, so I can only give a personal assessment – seasoned Toughie solvers may have different tales to tell. Oddly, the solve itself didn’t take very long, but I was left with a clutch of clues whose wordplay I couldn’t fathom, and for that reason alone I’ve notched the enjoyment level down from what could easily have been 4 or 5. Apart from those difficulties this puzzle offered some tough, imaginative clueing and a handful of real corkers. Kudos to the setter, too, for not being put off by awkward Js and Qs. There’s just one quibble at 23Dn.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26067
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I look forward to the Friday puzzle, but I must admit to feeling a bit disappointed with this one. There’s one amusing clue at 7d, but otherwise I thought that it was fairly mundane stuff, compared to the usual Friday fare. Do you agree or do you think I’m being excessively curmudgeonly? – let me know via a comment.
As usual, if you want to see an answer you’ll find it hidden between the curly brackets – just highlight the white space to reveal it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26062
A full analysis by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I thought this was quite an easy puzzle, but there were a few clues that generated queries last weekend. My only real complaints were the use of “from” to indicate an anagram and the American term for a water pistol, which is rarely used in the UK, although I would be interested to read your opinion on these.
Tilsit hopes to be back in this slot next week.
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 No 238 by Warbler
Hints and Tips by Tilsit
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit is currently being given the run-around at the hospital – being wheeled from department to department. He is hoping to be let out on parole for good behaviour this evening, and to be able to write the review then.
Sorry for the lateness with the posting but as Big Dave said, I have been ferried around the hospital in preparation for going home tomorrow. However, courtesy of a rather nice nurse, I was able to get all of today’s newspaper puzzles printed off and I was able to solve them while waiting for treatment. With the exception of today’s Independent puzzle by our old chum Elgar, this Toughie was the most enjoyable of them all.
It was quite a tough solve, though and some of the clues needed a bit of thinking outside the box. However the anagrams were nice and appropriate, although I don’t like “made up names” as in 26 across. There were also some good uses of present-day words and phrases, rather than some puzzles where you feel like you’re being transported back to the 1950’s. There were a couple of dodgy surface readings, though. Rather too many anagrams for my liking too.
Here we go. Have your say (some of you already have!) and / or rate the puzzle using the star system.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26066
Hints and tips by Libellule
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** and a half – Enjoyment ***
I didn’t find this a particularly complicated puzzle, but I enjoyed doing it. A decent grid, a nice mix of clues, and a couple to make you smile. What more do you need whilst you are eating your breakfast, or enjoying the first cup of coffee for the day.
Any comments are appreciated.
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Toughie No 237 by Osmosis
The Nectar of the Gods
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
As usual Osmosis has produced a challenging Toughie, where getting the answer is often much simpler than working out the wordplay. This is an example of how a Toughie can be tricky and entertaining without resorting to very obscure words or the names of people that few have ever heard of.
Let us know what you think of it via a comment.
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