Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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This puzzle was published on 15th December 2024
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, straightforward puzzle from Dada this Sunday that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and precious feedback.
Continue reading “ST 3295 (full review)”
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
A fun Christmas Eve jaunt, this. Not terribly tricky, despite 14a (hence the extra half) which was certainly new to me and some typically cunning synonyms.… Continue reading
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30805
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning and happy Christmas Eve to you all. Our regular Tuesday blogger, Huntsman, is having some well-earned R&R near Loch Lomond where the Wi-Fi is apparently intermittent at best. When he told me about his break in the Trossachs, I thought it was a nasty medical condition, but I am assured that it is not. Either way, he has asked me to fill in for him today, which I am more than happy to do. It will, of course, cost him a pint when he is back!
I found this to be fairly straightforward, but a fun challenge. I hope you enjoyed solving it as well. Just a reminder that whilst there will be no dead tree version of the paper tomorrow, puzzles will still be available on the puzzle website. Season’s greetings to you all.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Thank you, setter and a special thank you to crossword editor, Chris Lancaster, as we approach the year end.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from Ottawa, where we are enduring a spell of very cold weather. What Senf reports he is experiencing in Winnipeg arrives here a couple of days later, so I can pretty much say “Ditto” to his weather report – although the weather system does arrive here marginally warmer than when it left Winnipeg.
The photo above is of the Christmas Tree in Boston, Massachusetts. Each year since 1971, the people of Nova Scotia have gifted a tree to the people of Boston in thanks for their assistance after the 1917 Halifax Explosion. This gesture commemorates one originally made in 1917, when Nova Scotia had donated a large Christmas tree to the city of Boston in thanks and remembrance for the help the Boston Red Cross and the Massachusetts Public Safety Committee provided following the explosion.
On December 6, 1917 shortly after 9:00 am, a munitions ship collided with a second ship in Halifax Harbour resulting in the largest non-nuclear explosion of all time which severely destroyed much of the city. Boston authorities learned of the disaster by telegraph, and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train around 10 pm to assist survivors. A blizzard delayed the train, which finally arrived in the early morning of December 8 and immediately began distributing food, water, and medical supplies. Numerous personnel on the train were able to relieve the Nova Scotia medical staff, most of whom had worked without rest since the explosion occurred.
Today we are gifted with a seasonally themed puzzle that should not detain you long from preparations for the big day on Wednesday but is, nevertheless, a very enjoyable diversion. It could be the work of Robyn but I also would not be surprised to be informed that our editor has slipped one in. As Smylers will be with you for the next two weeks while I busy myself as a volunteer at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship which is being held in Ottawa this year, I will take this opportunity to wish one and all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
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My last blog before Santa Clause Comes to Town It isn’t terribly Christmassy so I will decorate the blog with a few Christmassy bits and pieces.
We have 14a and 14d clues and I have tried to limit hints to half, but a few bonus hints may pop up here and there
Here we go…
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Firstly, I would like to wish all EV solvers a very happy Christmas. ‘Tis the season when the sort of ‘jokes’ that I tell all year round are briefly back in fashion (of a sort). Oh yes, I know that Good King Wenceslas likes his pizzas deep pan, crisp and even; that snowmen go to the greengrocer’s to pick their noses; and that when Santa tried to sell Dancer and Prancer on eBay there were no takers because they were two deer…
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where we are on something of a temperature roller coaster; minus 20s in the week just completed, forecast to ‘warm up’ to minus 1 by ‘the day’ on Wednesday, and cooling down again for the start of 2025 with, of course, occasional sprinklings of the fluffy white stuff.… Continue reading
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As this is my last on-the-day blog post before Christmas Day’s Toughie, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas
