Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***/****
Well, this was a * breeze until I hit 16d’s “plan to avoid bankruptcy” and 20d’s “Joe”.… Continue reading
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***
A dull start to the day but it’s brightening up nicely here in Harpenden. The golf courses are still closed so it’s a trip to the Odyssey to see the matinee performance of Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, which I’m rather looking forward to.
Those bemoaning a trickier than usual start to the week yesterday ought to be happy with today’s offering. I found it very pleasant, nicely clued & none too demanding. I’m not 100% convinced it’s an Anthony Plumb production but Senf will no doubt advise. For any that breeze through this I’d encourage a visit to the other place to check out Hudson who is on Toughie duty. I haven’t looked at the puzzle yet but if it’s anywhere near as good as his last one it’ll be worth the effort plus there’s the added bonus of ALP’s usually eclectic music choices which Jane looks forward to so much.
In the following hints, definitions are underlined, indicators are mostly in parentheses, and answers are revealed by clicking where shown as usual. Please leave a comment below on how you got on with the puzzle.
Happy Monday, everybody. This weekend we went to a Miffy exhibition in Leeds, to celebrate the cartoon rabbit’s 70th birthday. I was particularly interested to learn how Dick Bruna coloured the illustrations by cutting out coloured sheets of paper (by hand) and layering them behind the black outlines transferred onto clear film. And that the wobbliness in the black lines was achieved by painting them originally onto bumpy watercolour paper.
There’s also some impressively layered clues in today’s today’s Telegraph Crossword, which is giving off the aura of having been dreamt up by Twmbarlwm. Lots of fantastic clues, with plenty of twists along the way.
Sunday Toughie No 161
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Well another mystery setter, can anyone throw any light on who Light may be? He hasn’t appeared under that name in the categories list. It seems like a Ray Terrell kind of pseudonym Ray Beam Light, but we don’t have The Queen, sweetheart or single-word answers and a frankly Djangoesque 12-word clue in 22a (the average clue length comes down to just over 6 per clue). Nevertheless, I will plump for RayT looking for a suitable level between his backpager and proper toughie (Beam) guises. He may even have signed it in the sixth row of “unches”
15a and 20a floated my boat today but COTD goes to 9d. What did you like?
Here we go, Folks…
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Chalicea is another prolific setter encountered in all the usual places. For instance, in the Magpie series where she invariably sets at the A-grade level. This typically indicates fewer degrees of freedom and an accessible endgame that doesn’t suffer from GWIT (“guess what I’m thinking”). This puzzle is no exception.
In true Phibs style, I told Gemini: “in a thematic crossword puzzle, we are asked to identify a parking offence and the person performing it” to which they responded laconically with:
“Offence: OVERTIME
Person: METERFEEDER (someone adding money to extend time)”.
Was that helpful? You decide.
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where the meteorologists (didn’t I comment on them recently?) are clinging to their forecast on the end of the Arctic freeze and by today we might be 35 degrees Celsius warmer than we were on Wednesday – minus 31 to plus 4! … Continue reading
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
A fine Friday Toughie from Elgar – not as brain-mangling as many of his crosswords, but a fun solve from start to finish.