Yes they have both been harder .....It isn't possible to complete one of the 5 sections without working on all the others first. Work through all 5 as far as possible then look what happens in the overlaps in the centre grid...quite a few numbers are soon eliminated...
I raised a query with the Telegraph about this, they assure me that it can be solved. However, I tried using a Sudoku solver and discovered that there are multiply solutions for the bottom right hand puzzle, so I think that it will take quite a while to solve to whole puzzle.