Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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You have reached the world’s biggest and best crossword blog. If you are looking for help with the Daily and Sunday Telegraph cryptic crosswords, a total of 11 puzzles a week, then you have come to the right place.
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
Dutch is on holiday this week, giving me a chance to review a puzzle by one of my favourite setters.
Not many setters seem to have grasped what solvers expect from a Toughie, but proXimal certainly has. I was sailing through this, one clue at a time, before I came to a grinding halt in the southwest corner, which is why I added an extra helf a star to the difficulty. With a compound anagram it can be difficult to spot what is going on, and I needed to solve 27a before having any chance of knowing which four-letter name was required in 24d. Continue reading “Toughie 2389”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on another damp, grey day.
I thought that today’s puzzle was pretty straightforward, so it will be interesting to see your views.… Continue reading
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This puzzle was published on 15th February 2020
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
An extremely straightforward pangram – a perfect candidate for the proposed new ‘easier’ crossword slot
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
One of those crosswords where it helps if you know ‘stuff’ and fortunately for me, I did. Solved in a time on the cusp of a backpager and a Toughie, so slightly trickier than I’d expected from Firefly.… Continue reading
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BD Rating — Difficulty **/*** — Enjoyment ****
Hello everyone. A Ray T crossword but not one of his more difficult ones. A few of his trademark clues are missing but there are enough of them to convince me that he is the setter today.… Continue reading
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This puzzle was published on 9th February 2020
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Dada is one of those setters where you really need to get on his wavelength straight away in order to solve the crossword.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
I’m not sure what to make of this puzzle as a ‘Toughie’. 4-letter answers usually cause some problems and may even be labelled as ‘pesky’ but there are no less than twelve of them here and all twelve went in with no delays and could easily have appeared in a back-pager.… Continue reading
BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ****
Kia ora from Aotearoa.
It has been a busy couple of days for us. We impulse bought a new computer and then went to Wellington to enlist family assistance to set it all up for us. Why are these things so stressful for people of our age?… Continue reading