Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Those who found last week’s Giovanni on the tough side will probably be happy that this week’s is less challenging. Let us know how you found it.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
Morning All! A bit like the Sunday puzzle I reviewed yesterday, this one was a pretty fast solve but I very much enjoyed going over it again. There were some very nice, concise clues that made me smile.
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Once again we have the delicious prospect of another BBC CiNA (Children in Need Appeal) 3D Calendar Puzzle. Each day has a clue. Each month has a 3D grid to complete. Some of the best setters in the UK have given of their genius freely to provide us with enough clues to solve to keep us out of trouble for most of the year.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
Thanks to Big Dave for covering for me last week. It was nice to get back in the swing with this enjoyable puzzle which was not quite as difficult as the last couple of Petitjean puzzles I have blogged.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Hola from the Vega Baja. Sorry but this wasn’t my favourite puzzle. It has a lot of reversals and “A (from the clue)” which started to become a little irritating. I’ll be interested to hear your views.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ****
Morning All! Looking at my solving time this puzzle was very nearly a one star for difficulty but I was clearly on the wavelength so I have given it two after reading the blog. More of Virgilius’ excellent surface readings , a couple of trademark hidden clues and some very nice observational clues.
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment **
On MynoT’s last outing CrypticSue commented “apart from wanting to see how MynoT would get on trying to put a Q in every solution, I do wish he could abandon the alphabeticals and give us an ‘ordinary’ Toughie”. Well the first part of her wish has been more-or-less satisfied; we’ll have to wait and see for the second. I say more-or-less satisfied because the wished-for letter appears in all the across answers but in only some of the downs. Even more than with previous letters (because of the following U) the theme does make the puzzle very predictable and I was glad that it didn’t take long. There are an awful lot of clues where you have to insert, add or delete a single character. What do you think?
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A 2* (or perhaps under) in difficulty, with a 3* for enjoyment, with some interestingly cryptic definitions and indicators smoothly fitting into the surfaces. Thanks to setter. Definitions are underlined in the clues. “[xxx]” denotes a synonym or equivalent of “xxx”.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Those who follow his puzzles in the Guardian would probably regard this as Paul Lite – easier to solve but still laced with his wicked humour.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Quote from grumpy old man, “a few too many first/starts and close/ends for my taste”. However I did find this pretty tricky for a Tuesday. Last one in was 11a, if anyone has a better explanation for this please feel free to add your comments to the blog.