Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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Today is your last chance to enter our January Prize Puzzle, and don’t forget the very special prize!
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Most of the answers in this puzzle had to be teased out, one at a time. And what an enjoyable process it was.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a grey January morning, with a little watery sunshine struggling to break through the clouds.
29a held me up, and was last one in, but just within ** time. Thanks to Giovanni for an interesting challenge.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
It is quite rare to get a Pangram in a Saturday prize puzzle but Cephas provided us a crossword which included all the letters of the alphabet in addition to several of his usual nicely-indicated anagrams.
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Guardian setter Boatman has sent this update:
“I’m taking bookings for my spring Masterclass in Brighton on Saturday 8 March – numbers are limited, so to make sure of your place please get in touch as soon as possible.
“Hope to see you there!”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
I spent a long time on this including a 5-10 minute period in the middle when I didn’t solve a single clue. I ended up in 5-star difficulty territory for the first time in ages but, as I wrote the review, I couldn’t see any reason why it should have taken me so long. Certainly the complete lack of anagrams and multiword answers didn’t help.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Cold, dark and damp this morning. Still, this crossword brightened things up a bit for me but I know a lot of you will disagree. There’s only one anagram, two other clues that are part anagram, and it’s one of those grids that are a bit like four crosswords in one. Just crept into 3* time for me.
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Those of you who have been with us for a while may remember ScrewedUp News. The last edition was published in June 2010, and the time has come for its renaissance.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
To borrow from Rabbit Dave’s comment on the day of publication: “Another perfect Sunday crossword”.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is a fairly gentle Toughie. I was held up a bit by the wordplay in 1d and I had to google the ‘Sir Patrick’ in 26a but, those apart, it was pretty much plain sailing. It does have some inventive anagram indicators.