Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another dose of quality, this week with a govt/military flavour in quite a few of the long answers – Magna Carta, Victoria Cross, esprit de corps, and secret service. Overall difficulty matched an easy but not very easy Times puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
This was a bit of a monster, not helped by the E/E* grid and a preponderance of very common cross-checking letters; 8a was a case in point, a ten minute slog with only -A-E- available. The clues were a mix of some truly stunning bits of inventiveness and the occasional grumble, typified by the past participle “welcomed” in 9d.
*E/E means even/even – in which the answers appear in the even-numbered rows and columns.
Please add your comments and questions; and don’t forget the curly brackets contain the answers – left-click and drag the cursor over them if you get really desperate.
Clues in blue are the ones I enjoyed most of all.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have another entertaining puzzle from our usual Friday setter. With most puzzles you find at least one or two surface readings which are a bit “iffy”, but Giovanni always produces beautifully smooth clues. I think that today he has a given us a puzzle which treads a fine line by being within the reach of novice solvers whilst posing enough of a challenge for the more experienced.
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As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – if you want to reveal one, just select the white space inside.