Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another great crossword from the Sunday Maestro. A couple of places held me up for a while but I did enjoy the challenge. Lots of ‘favourites’ which I have marked in blue but my top clue has to be 23d. Thanks to Virgilius once again for making us smile while encouraging us to indulge in quite a bit of 7d!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
After my first read through, my initial reaction was ‘oh heck’ but luckily this didn’t last too long and this very entertaining crossword was completed in a fairly quick time. Thanks to our mystery setter for a great Saturday puzzle; for me the star of the show was the apt anagram indicator in 2d.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
Quite a few of us found this week’s prize puzzle from Cephas slightly more tricky than usual. The obvious ones went in straight away and some of the stragglers took a while for the penny to drop, but in the end the whole thing was solved in my usual time. Thanks to Cephas for the enjoyable challenge.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ***
This Sunday’s puzzle was for me a ‘crossword of two halves’. The left hand side went in quite quickly but the right hand side, and particularly the NE corner, was a different matter, hence the 3.5 stars for difficulty. The usual enjoyable mix of clues so thanks are due once again to Virgilius for some great entertainment, albeit slightly more taxing than usual for me at least.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I don’t know whether our setters knew that we were going to get all this lovely weather but lately the majority of cryptics seem to have been both entertaining and quick to solve, leaving us time to get on with enjoying ourselves. This offering from Virgilius followed the trend with some great clues and wonderful penny-dropping moments so thank you to him once again.
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I am going to blame the fact that I was sitting in the blazing sun when I started trying to solve this puzzle but , having put in a few of the straightforward solutions, I did have to go on-line and get a couple of letters to help me sort out the rest. Whilst at the trickier end of the Prolixic spectrum, it has a very nice theme (the themed clues I have spotted are marked with an *) and some great clues, so thanks to Prolixic once again for another great piece of Saturday afternoon entertainment.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Firstly thank you to Gazza for giving up his Friday slot so that I could do an ‘on the day’ review and also for helping this Luddite with the necessary technological wizardry. I thought this was a typical Giovanni puzzle with a very nice mix of clues, extremely clear anagram indicators and his usual religious references being especially relevant to today. Thanks to Giovanni for a very nice start to the day – just right for solving and then getting outside to enjoy the good weather!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
This was one of those Saturday Prize Puzzles that left me in a good mood for the rest of the day. It was fun to solve, with some very good clues and great penny-dropping moments. I then had even more fun working out the wordplay out for the review. Thank you very much Mystery Setter, more of the same please!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I found this one quite hard to get into and wasn’t sure what I thought about it when I had finished, mainly because I spent so long trying to ‘get’ 12a. A closer examination for review purposes has made me realise that it contained an entertaining mix of different types of cryptic clue, so thanks are due once again to Cephas for a nice Saturday puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **/***
Unusually for me, this Sunday puzzle took a long time to finish, and others have subsequently confirmed my view that this was at the hard end of the Virgilius spectrum. I did have particular trouble with 9a and the very sneaky clue of the day that was 21a. Thank you Virgilius for a proper brain workout of a cryptic, my view of which improved as I prepared this review.