Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
My surprise at finding Petitjean in the Tuesday slot disappeared when I realised that this was one of his easier puzzles. I didn’t need my “slightly-mad” hat today. There is an Olympic feel to a couple of the clues.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja, where it is ridiculously hot and sticky tonight (ask Prolixic if you don’t believe me!). Forecast 37C and 74% humidity for later today – Agosto en Espana, yuk! Anyway, we’ve got a bit of musical chairs again this week! Big Dave yesterday instead of Libellule and now me today. Pommette’s in the UK again (she’s now on first-name terms with the Ryanair cabin crew that are based in Alicante) and so, having no job list to do and therefore being at a bit of a loose end, I’m giving Gazza a well-deserved day off. Not sure who’s doing the rest of the week but I’ll be back again for the back pager on Thursday, which will be my regular slot in the future.
Don’t know who the setter is today but I really liked this puzzle, not too difficult but enough to make you think a bit – perfect for a Tuesday (at least I think it’s Tuesday)!
Continue reading “DT 26944”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Libellule is having a well-earned break this week, giving me another opportunity to enjoy a Rufus puzzle. The usual mix of clues with a couple of barely cryptic definitions thrown in for good measure. While not particularly difficult, I did find myself smiling while writing the review.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley! It’s that time of the month again and Elgar (aka Vlad the Impaler) has been let out of his padded cell to torment us with another ferociously fiendish Toughie. I think he might have been particularly grumpy when he set this one, as I found this a good deal tougher than some of his recent ones (and they were pretty tough!). Some unusual words in today’s grid which caused me to have to reach for the search engine, together with a couple of very cryptic definitions made this hard going at times, and will no doubt induce apoplexy in the homes of fans of other setters.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Most of this one went in fairly easily for me but I was held up in the NW corner for a while (I kept thinking of Ben and Charles for 1a), so I’ve given it 4* for difficulty. Let us know whether you had similar problems or whether you thought it was a piece of cake.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I don’t think it was just the distraction of all that exciting Olympic viewing but I found this crossword trickier than expected for a Saturday and not quite as much fun as usual either.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A few tricky down answers at the end pushed my time into the 4* difficulty zone. I’ll be interested to here whether other solvers had problems or whether I was having an off-day.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Swapping days with Pommers this week has given me the chance to blog what I’m pretty sure is a puzzle by Petitjean, one of my favourite setters (though I prefer his back-pagers to some of his Toughies). I thought that this one was a fair bit easier than his previous couple of crosswords (which evoked howls of protest) and I was tempted to give it 2* for difficulty but decided that might induce apoplexy in some readers – so I’ve settled for 3*. I enjoyed it a lot. How about you?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Morning All! Given that I am currently on holiday and have no idea what day it is I realised that I had forgotten to blog this – hence the alarm call at 6 this morning to get up and do it!. We have a very pleasant puzzle from Virgilius that most found quite straightforward.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Finding out that the Toughie you have to blog is by Excalibur doesn’t generally provoke whoops of joy, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I think that in terms of difficulty it’s just about the right level for a midweek Toughie, it has no obscure words and it has a number of entertaining clues.
Let us know what you thought and please record your enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars below.