Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I had guessed that Osmosis was today’s setter even before I had it confirmed, largely based on his trademark complicated wordplay and the extraordinary number of reversals. There were some entertaining clues, but others seemed a bit forced.
Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment!
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The biggest hint I can give is to check today’s date before starting this one. Another entertaining puzzle from Jay, with a topical theme.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A very pleasant puzzle which shows us what Cephas, our regular Saturday setter, can do. At the lower end of difficulty for a Toughie, a puzzle like this would make a lot of sense as a Prize Puzzle.
Cephas has made pangrammatic puzzles a bit of a trademark in recent months, so you won’t be surprised to see all 26 letters of the alphabet in this one.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Ray T’s puzzles normally have one or two hidden answers but there are none at all in this one. Is this a new policy, or did he just forget? I thought that there were some cracking clues today and I really enjoyed the challenge.
We’d love to get your views of the puzzle, the review or the site generally. You can do this very easily by using the comment facility at the bottom.
If you’re new to the blog you may not realise that the answers are present in the review but hidden between the curly brackets under the relevant clue (so that you can’t see them accidentally). Drag your cursor across from the left to the right bracket if you want to reveal one.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today I finished the bottom right quadrant first and then the other three in an anticlockwise direction from there.You can guess how it happened. The eye landed on the last Ac. clue which is an anagram. Reading the Dn. clues for each of which a crossing letter had been obtained got more. And so the whirlijig went.
Usually some reservations are expressed by commenters on this blog about four-letter words but in this crossword most of them should pose no difficulties.
To see any answer, please highlight the white space between the curly brackets under the clue .
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Friday, 19th March.
Continue reading “ST 2527 – Hints”
+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Prolixic proves that his first puzzle was no fluke with this excellent second one. While there are still a few rough edges to be polished, I thought this was well up to the standard of many of the regular daily cryptics.
Sorry it’s a bit late, but I am steadily catching up on my backlog!
+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Welcome to the fifth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This is the second by Prolixic – one of our rising stars.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 18th March.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Three Brian Greer trade-mark clues in this puzzle – the long hidden word at 23A, and the two all-in-ones at 3D and 6D. Moderate difficulty and the usual elegant clues – away we go …
A few minutes late with the blog as I couldn’t get onto CluedUp this morning – clues below courtesy of a copy wisely kept by Dave. I’d already decided not to give every last shred of wordplay any more – let me know if I’ve left something out that needs explaining.