Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Greetings from Ottawa, where the weather has been pretty much as expected, and the locals have been out creating entries for the animal snow sculpture competition.
Hang on, that doesn’t seem right …
A belated Merry Christmas to everybody who reads this blog, whether every day or just popping in from time to time. I ought to have been the first blogger to offer Christmas greetings, but on December 16th I failed to remember that it was my final hinting before Christmas, so you’re getting it late instead.
It’s a Monday — whether it feels like it or not — so here are hints and explanations for today’s Telegraph Crossword, with definitions underlined. Do comment below with how you found the puzzle, any questions about it, and which clues you like best.
One of our regular between-Christmas-and-New-Year treats is a visit to Saltaire to see their Living Advent Calendar — real windows which have been decorated, a new one being unveiled each day in the run up to Christmas. Worth seeing if you’re anywhere nearby, and especially recommended to fans of cats, which seem to feature in many of the windows. Here are some of our favourites:
Hello, fellow commoners. If the Telegraph crossword is common, then I certainly have no wish to be anything else. How ridiculous anyway, suggesting that you should decide what to put on your pudding not based not on what you’ll enjoy eating most but on how posh or common some others will judge your choice! But at least the article used the term ‘U’, not often encountered these days outside of crosswords, thereby justifying setters’ continued use of ‘posh’ to indicate that letter.
The Daily Telegraph crossword on Mondays is one of the best places to learn how to solve cryptic crosswords. If over the Christmas period you encounter any students who show any inclination towards crosswords, do let them know they can have a free subscription, including Telegraph Puzzles — and of course make sure they know about Big Dave’s Crossword Blog for help with working out what’s going on.
Today’s puzzle is a treat for those who like putting one thing inside another. Do leave a comment saying how you got on with it.
Here in Ilkley this weekend we had the Rudolph’s Run parade of decorated tractors passing through — illuminated farm vehicles as far as the eye could see. (Our household’s resident statistician counted 213 of them go past.)
Hello to everybody attempting today’s Telegraph cryptic crossword. If you get stuck, or you have an answer but you aren’t sure why it’s the answer, then the hints below should help. (If they don’t, then that’s my fault; do leave a comment saying what’s unclear, and somebody from the friendly community here will explain whatever it is I didn’t.)
Usually Monday is the only day of the week in which I both work from home and don’t walk the 10-year-old to school, which is handy for fitting in pre-work solving and bloggling. But today I need to head into the office, so apologies for the lack of pictures below. (Alternatively, if I did find time to add some pictures, apologies for leaving in the previous sentence, which I failed to remove. I’m writing this introduction on Sunday, before I’ve even seen the puzzle.)
Hello. It’s Monday and today’s crossword doesn’t contain any obscure vocabulary, so hopefully it should be suitable for beginners. If you’re one, then thank you for joining us — nice to have you here. The hints and explanations below are there to be used, with definitions underlined. Press on a clue’s brrr, it’s cold today! blob to reveal its answer.
Thank you for the welcome messages last week; I didn’t want to clutter up the comments by replying to each one separately, but they were all appreciated. And thank you to Big Dave’s resident technical expert Mr K for providing assistance in various matters, including how to add pictures.
Monday’s cryptic crosswords are often more beginner-friendly than those later in the week. If you’re stuck on a clue, or have the answer but don’t know why, the hints below are intended to help, with the definition part of each underlined. Press on the like that! to see the answer.
Do leave a comment below saying how you found today’s puzzle. Comments are especially welcome from those new here or who haven’t commented before. See the etiquette guide if you’re unsure.