Where new ideas are tried out – only the brave enter into this domain
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Hi all. Tuesday has come again, bringing with it a fun Toughie from Mr Halpern which caused me less trouble than the back page. After an unfocused start I raced through this, but unusually for me left many loose ends to sort out later (normally I like to “tidy up” as I go along – oh, how I wish I were like that in real life!). … Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone. I’m currently working my way through Don “Giovanni” Manley’s Chambers Crossword Manual, hoping to get better acquainted with the laws/rules/conventions of cryptic crosswords. I recently encountered an aside in that book saying that the Swahili word for crossword is “chemshebongo”, meaning “boil brains”.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment **
Good Morning from a bright but chilly day here in Shropshire. MP is unavailable for blogging duties so you have me instead. First chance that I’ve had to blog a Rufus puzzle and thankfully he is in a very generous mood – so I suspect that not many of you will require the need of my blog.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Notabilis is living up to his cheeky parrot name. A great puzzle which delights in its devious clueing, without being impossibly hard. Very original and a joy to solve. There is even a Nina to feast on. Magnificent.
As always, the definitions are underlined in the clues below.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment */**
Good Morning from a rather damp, dreich and dismal Shropshire. I have been given the opportunity to review this Pangram puzzle from Mr Manley as Deep Threat is engaged elsewhere. It’s been a while since I last blogged – so please forgive me if I’m a bit rusty.… Continue reading
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This puzzle was published on Saturday 25th February
BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment ***/****
Another improved, if fairly straightforward, Saturday crossword, but given the number of other crossword-related things I had to do on the day, I wasn’t complaining. I would point out the number of times a letter had to be taken off something and also the wrong definition of 20d, which would have led to it only getting ‘average’ enjoyment stars. However, there are some splendid surface readings so I’ve awarded a half star to recognise their part in my solving entertainment
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pleasant puzzle that went in smoothly apart from a slight hold-up in the NW corner. When writing the blog I discovered that I hadn’t looked at 24 down which turned out to be a word I’d never heard of though the answer was obvious from the wordplay.… Continue reading
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BD Rating — Difficulty ** — Enjoyment ***/****
Hello everyone. It’s not a Ray T Thursday so those of you who don’t get along with him can relax – I’m not going to make any wild guesses as to who set today’s crossword as I’ve been wrong many times before. I didn’t think it was too difficult although there were a few that held me up at the end.… Continue reading
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This puzzle was published on Sunday 19th February
BD Rating – Difficulty *– Enjoyment *****
So much to enjoy in yet another splendid Sunday puzzle. I bet even Kath had a whole galaxy of stars by ‘clues she liked’; I certainly did, although I’ve managed to whittle down the list to nominate 20a as my favourite Across clue and 26d as my top favourite Down clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
There’s nothing to terrify the thoroughbreds in this pleasant puzzle from Samuel. I didn’t know the Hobbit or the French composers but in both cases the checking letters and the wordplay soon sorted me out. Thanks to Samuel.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared with the puzzle and what you thought of it.… Continue reading