Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Today we have the usual enjoyable offering from Jay – one that I thought tended toward the less difficult end of the scale.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
It is a pleasant enough offering today from Jay which I was able to solve reasonably quickly. Given that a few British expressions presented hurdles for me that would be absent for those of you in the UK, I expect you did even better.
Big Dave attached a note to the puzzle saying “With gold mentioned, the downs are almost Goldilocks and the three bears! ” And, with hair being mentioned in the across clues (10a), perhaps the theme is complete.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have been served up a very solid offering today by Jay. Personally, I found it to be a bit more difficult than his typical fare. Nevertheless, I solving it was a thoroughly enjoyable exercise – and I toyed with the idea of giving it another star in that category.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I feel like a circus performer working without a safety net tonight. In the past, Big Dave has always forwarded a copy of the completed grid as a backup in case I am unable to solve a clue. However, tonight I guess he decided to take the training wheels off the bike, as I did not find a filled in grid in the package. Luckily, it was not needed.
I awarded this puzzle two stars for difficulty, given that I was able to solve it without the need of electronic assistance. I perhaps should clarify that statement – I found solutions to all the clues, but I remain perplexed by the wordplay at 4d. That mess I leave for Big Dave to clean up in the morning.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I presume that this one is by Jay, but I have to say that I didn’t derive as much enjoyment from it as I normally expect from his creations. It certainly seems to have a fair share of charades, together with a goodly dose of deletion-type clues – but lacks any real “Aha!” moment.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Today we get a good solid offering from Jay (I presume), one which (if I may borrow a phrase) could be described as a Goldilocks puzzle – not too easy, not too hard, but perhaps just right (depending on how you like your porridge, of course). While there are no clues that really stand out, there are no stinkers either. However, there is a rather hearty serving of charades.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
While I enjoyed this puzzle and was able to complete it fairly readily, I found it considerably more of a challenge to review. I found that the clues ran the gamut – from quite simple to very tricky. For a while I thought it might merit 2* for difficulty, but a few clues whose wordplay left me scratching my head for quite some time caused me to rethink the rating.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today we have a solid puzzle with a fairly good mix of clue types. One clue, in particular, I found especially enjoyable – that being the one dealing with the Peers of the Realm. If it is original, I am sure many others likely enjoyed it also. If not new, then it is one to be savored by those of us relatively new to this pastime.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable, if not overly difficult, offering today from Jay (I presume). There is a fairly nice mix of clue types, although I expect some will think that there are too many “first and last letter of …” type clues in the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
If you enjoy charades, you’ll love this puzzle. At least 17 of the 28 clues involve this type of clue. I must say that it was far more enjoyable to solve than it was to create hints for. After all, there are only so many ways to describe a charade.