Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Afternoon, all. Toro here standing in for Bufo. I’m not sure I’ve done a Beam before (wot, no anagrams?!), so I’ll leave it to you regulars to compare it with his usual work, but I found it a fairly steady and certainly satisfying solve.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
A fairly challenging puzzle for a Tuesday with not too many easy “ins” apart from the fairly obvious clue down the spine of the grid. Strongly clued, as one would expect of a Giovanni, with a smattering of clues requiring general knowledge – also as expected.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****/*****
I rarely look at grids, but this one is like a sandwich cut diagonally with stubborn joins of crust in the corners. There is a lot of headscratching and fun to be had in the long words round the edges (four of 11 letters and four of 14), and overall this was a really enjoyable and amusing puzzle from Dada.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
I did this late last night in a tired and distracted state, which may explain both ratings. As always, a quirky puzzle from Excalibur with a mix of fun and bamboozlement. Apologies for the lack of images but I haven’t been able to upload them today for some reason.
Continue reading “Toughie 1556”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I’m filling in for Dutch today, who is preparing to go on the piste. This was a more straightforward solve than I was expecting on a rare visit to the Friday Toughie chair, and the style will probably have appealed more to those who enjoy tussling with clue components than to someone like me who has more of a liking for surfaces and inventive definitions.
[POSTSCRIPT: Gazza has suggested below that there is a personal message in six clues beginning with 1d. If there is, and it is what I think he means, then it’s not surprising this puzzle is not exactly brimming with levity (and my ratings are even less relevant than usual).]
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
An oddly Giovanni-like offering from Dada today, but with a rather rushed feel about it. This week’s Rookie Corner puzzle by Maize is much more polished and satisfying and I urge you to do it if you haven’t already. Continue reading “Toughie 1544”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***/****
A surreal treat from Excalibur: no fewer than 16 definition clues (cryptic, straight-plus-cryptic, or double-straight), a playful parallelism, and a shapely trio. Plus the obligatory Yoda-isms (but only two, despite the Space Invaders motif in the grid). Continue reading “Toughie 1540”
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Some great stuff in this amusing puzzle from Warbler that would be a good place to start for back-page solvers looking to venture into the world of the Toughie.
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
My first encounter with Busman. I found it fresh and fun, if very much at the easy end of the Toughie spectrum — the second star for difficulty being due as much as anything to the fact that I was busy eating a fried breakfast while solving.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This was a quite a gentle and certainly an enjoyable start to the short post-Xmas week. Excuse the belated review.