Toughie No 388 by Monsieur Busman
Let’s Parler Franglais
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Zut alors! Bearing in mind the date Busman has donned a beret and lit up a Gauloises to give a Gallic motif to today’s puzzle. I suspect that solvers will either love it or hate it. I found it enjoyable as a one-off (though the theme does impose restrictions), so full marks and merci beaucoup to Monsieur Busman for trying something different.
A large number of the clues refer to 18, which is 18d. If I tried to write all the hints for these clues without disclosing what 18d is it would be laborious to write and tedious to read, and since I can’t believe that anyone has got this far without knowing the theme, I’m going to use “French” in the hints rather than constantly referring to “the language of the person defined in 18d”.
Were you enchanted or irritated by it? Let us know in a comment!