Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
A moderately difficult Toughie is made more difficult than it should be by careless enumeration. While 26 across correctly hyphenates the adjectival part of the answer, the same has not been applied to 2 down. A couple of other clues should, in my opinion (and that of the dictionaries that I consulted) have hyphens.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Not much obvious high drama in the clues this week, though three hidden words is a bit unusual. Just (just?) the usual impeccable clues, and a very kind grid for the solver. The use of two commercial names among the clues and answers is a bit unusual for a British crossword, though the Americans are much less shy about this. Memorable mistake by a famous solver in the final stages of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament: Black and white killer [ O??? ] = OREO (correct answer: ORCA).
There are also some clever uses of words with common meanings in cryptic clues, playing other roles this time, other stuff to give the blogger more to write about than he initially expected, and the chance to link to a bit of music.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
When I logged on to CluedUp this morning I thought that we weren’t going to have a puzzle today as the home page was still pointing at yesterday’s. But I eventually found today’s, disguised as number 26. It’s a typical Giovanni, with one nod towards today’s date. Let us know your thoughts about it in a comment.
If you’re still stuck for an answer after reading the hint just highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.