Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Sunday Toughie No 169
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Happy Easter, folks…
I had to take a good, long look at the BRB to find the pigeon and the nut, that and a couple of dodgy parsings (1d) and new to me knowledge (9a) meant this was probably Light’s toughest Toughie to date (for me™)
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half, a bonus nudge may be available if asked
Here we go, Folks…
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Shark is familiar to me as being at the harder end of the spectrum – he’s a frequent contributor to the Usual Cryptic Suspects. The title probably meant that something thematic was going to show up there and might be of some help while solving. Though I’ll admit I usually only manage to decode titles ex post facto. I didn’t bother consulting my Gemini advisor since I couldn’t imagine even him/her having anything useful to contribute given that particular title. Also, I didn’t wonder (though I should have!) whether Easter Sunday might be thematically relevant.
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where we are four weeks into an election campaign which feels more like four months! One week to go.
For me, and I stress for me, at times during the solve I was not sure that this is a Dada production at all but I concluded that it is – two long ‘uns, six anagrams (no partials), one lurker, and no homophones all in a slightly asymmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Candidates for favourite – 20a, 25a, 6d, and 21d.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.