Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **+ – Enjoyment ****
Dharma’s back to tickle and tease, with engineered surfaces and fair definitions, as always. Some real graft here. All yours.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31071
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers and greetings from North Norfolk where we are enjoying our biannual week staying in an apartment overlooking Wells harbour. The weather has been remarkably kind to us, despite a little bit of rain yesterday afternoon.
Today’s plans include completing today’s blog and then a bit of birding at dusk followed by dinner with friends in the Wells Crab House. Any travel to the east will depend on a burst water main on the A149 having been repaired overnight. Fingers crossed. No real surprises on the birding front so far, but a couple of juvenile gannets and a red-breasted merganser at Titchwell on Tuesday are worthy of note.
Today’s puzzle doesn’t feel like Silvanus and it is definitely not RayT, so I will leave “Guess the Setter” in your capable hands, dear reader. I found it to be a bit tricky in parts, but an enjoyable solve. I will go along with the early commenters in making the very amusing 11a my CoD.
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.
Many thanks to our setter and to the DT Crossword Team.