Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them (a few more than usual this week!).
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Welcome to the thirty eighth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This week we have a puzzle from Chaz. There are themed answers and extra letters that must be removed from the wordplay, but don’t let that put you off as it is an excellent puzzle.
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I’ll be in London all day at the White Horse (see previous post), but I’m sure others will be around to help.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
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It’s time once again for the meeting at the White Horse pub in Parson’s Green, London tomorrow, 30th October, from 11am till late. Drop in and have a drink with us if you are in town. Full details can be found here:
Continue reading “Parson’s Green”
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Another ferocious Friday Toughie, this time by Myops and a thoroughly enjoyable one. Myops has very much his own style and this makes for a really good challenge. Have to thank Crypticsue for a couple of nudges, especially as new Telegraph Puzzles decided not to give me the usual letter hints. Having a wrong entry at 3d didn’t help my woes. Lots of nice elegant surface readings and cunning clues, although probably too many anagrams; thanks to Myops for a grand challenge.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
I found this puzzle pretty difficult for a Sunday, or at least I got badly stuck on two crossing pairs – 1A/4D, and 25A/21D. But I enjoyed the chance to use a picture taken on my holiday, which I was already intending to send to the setter. The difficulty meant that while I was still trying to speed-solve, I entered 3 answers without fully understanding the wordplay – 15A, 17A, 13D.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Gazza is taking a well-earned day off. We have yet another excellent puzzle from the Master. We are not worthy!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A very entertaining puzzle from Shamus today that had me scratching my head to resolve all of the wordplay.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Many thanks are due to Cephas for another very enjoyable Saturday puzzle. I have given it 3* for difficulty as my solving time was fairly quick – the only real problem I had was with my senior moment at 15d – my handwriting for all the other clues is extremely neat so I obviously didn’t have to struggle much with anything else. Other solvers didn’t agree but luckily the blog lived up to Big Dave’s introduction – “the wordplay will be explained by fellow solvers in simple, easy to understand, terms”. Today Mary was the fellow solver who did more than any of us to give explanations, although she has declined BD’s offer to produce next week’s hints!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Unmistakably a Ray T production, although I did have a quick peek at the Quick crossword in order to check and it comprised one-word clues. I found this to be one of his easier puzzles and came close to incurring the wrath of some by giving it two stars for difficulty.