Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
At first glance, not a very remarkable puzzle. But there are top-class surface readings throughout – a side of cryptic clues that sometimes gets ignored. Not by this setter, and after a few goes at puzzle writing myself lately, I know how difficult this is.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
The last time I reviewed an Elgar puzzle it was a “blind” solve; had no idea who had set it. This time I was forewarned so was on the lookout for his trademark trickery which, naturally, shines through in this mega-tough but highly entertaining (occasionally very naughty) puzzle. 4d, 5d and 12d are sure to raise both giggles among the knowing and temperatures among the sweet and innocent, but it’s all good fun.
It was a tricky solve in most areas, but the SE corner put up most resistance, and (as always seems to be the case with me) a number of answers went in without parsing the wordplay, so I’m hoping those pennies will drop as I write.
Favourite clues are in blue although, because there were a lot of them, I’ll try to narrow it down to my top half dozen or so.
Please do leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
As I’ve said before, Fridays and Sundays are my favourite Cryptic days. Even the inconvenience of a power cut when I was trying to key my answers into Clued Up didn’t dampen my enjoyment of this one. I know that some people find Giovanni’s puzzles difficult, but it really is worth persevering.
All comments are appreciated – the bloggers do read and take note of all the comments on their reviews, even if many do not require a specific response.
As usual the answer to each clue is concealed between the curly bracket under the clue. Just drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal it.