| Most dour novelist's tense |
The Telegraph Cryptic |
28 Oct 2025 |
| Canonised Mr Hemingway, the most strict (8) |
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| Most strict testers finish off examination with a twist |
The Times Cryptic |
02 May 2025 |
| Severest |
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| Most strict |
Premier Sunday |
10 Nov 2024 |
| Strictest |
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| Most cruel holy person supporting author (8) |
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| Most harsh rents set haphazardly |
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| Bird in the way repeatedly is the most austere (8) |
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| Most serious Irish novelist is priest in the end |
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| The most unforgiving setters upset about new opening (8) |
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| Most stony streets in which flier will settle |
The Telegraph Cryptic |
17 Dec 2020 |
| Most strict |
USA Today |
20 Oct 2020 |
| Back head abandoning exam, it's most rigorous |
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| Most harsh |
LA Times Daily |
30 Dec 2019 |
| Most harsh |
The Washington Post |
30 Dec 2019 |
| Back in Paris is becoming rigorous in the extreme |
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| Least lenient |
USA Today |
28 Dec 2018 |
| Least forgiving |
Newsday |
11 May 2018 |
| Least lenient |
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| Least 38-Down |
USA Today |
23 Oct 2017 |
| Most strict |
Newsday |
09 Oct 2017 |
| Least lenient |
The Washington Post |
19 Feb 2017 |
| Least 38-Down |
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| Novelist, extremely strict, yielding least |
The Times Cryptic |
18 Jan 2016 |
| Most serious and unrelenting |
Irish Times Simplex |
13 Jan 2016 |
| Least lenient |
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| Least lenient |
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| Most serious cryptic setters assume name |
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| Most strict |
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| Most severe |
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| Most severe |
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| Most severe |
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| Least lenient |
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| Most strict |
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| Most unforgiving |
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| Superlatively severe |
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| Most unyielding |
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| Most austere |
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| Least indulgent |
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| Most unyielding |
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| Most demanding |
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| Most forbidding |
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| Most severe |
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| Most severe. |
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| Most inexorable. |
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| Harshest. |
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| Most unrelenting |
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| Most stringent |
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| Most unrelenting. |
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| Most uncompromising. |
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| Least lenient. |
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| Most rigorous. |
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