Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Friday’s current setter is Don Manley who is also known as Giovanni, Duck, Pasquale, Quixote, and Bradman (all punningly connected with the name Don or Donald)
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a cloudy but dry morning.
One of those grids which produces four mini puzzles. 12a held me up long enough to make this *** for difficulty.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a bright but cool morning.
A couple of usages which may be unfamiliar today, but as usual Giovanni’s wordplay makes the answer reachable.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *
I am not one of Giovanni’s greatest admirers. Too many of his puzzles seem to have come off a production line, lacking both flair and entertainment – but combine that with what must be one of the worst grids in the Telegraph portfolio and the combination is, for me, catastrophic.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs. I’m off to the eye hospital for a check-up this morning, so no pictures today.
Others may disagree, but I found this the easiest puzzle from Giovanni since I have been doing the Friday blog – comfortably within * time.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs, where the sun is trying to break through the overnight cloud.
No great problems from Giovanni this morning, hence ** difficulty for me.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a bright, sunny morning with the promise of another hot day.
I found it a little difficult to get started on this puzzle from the Don, perhaps because I always like to start in the NW corner, and that turned out to be the last to yield.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from Lancing in West Sussex, where we’re staying for a few days. I started writing this last night, but had to pause when there was a huge thunderstorm – a bit loud when you’re in a caravan!
As we expect from the Don on a Friday, some obscurities and a certain amount of general knowledge needed to complete this puzzle, which was *** for me.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a dry but overcast morning.
It may be that I’m tired after a long trip into Wales for a family funeral, but I found today’s Giovanni hard going, with several obscure words, an unusual variant spelling, and one word which was completely new to me, although the clues, as usual, were entirely fair.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
My apologies for the late posting, but it had totally slipped my mind that Deep Threat had advised me that he was unavailable today due to a family bereavement. I’m sure some will enjoy this somewhat pedestrian Giovanni puzzle, but I am not among them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a very wet Friday. Thanks to Gazza for covering last week while I was driving back through France.
A couple of obscurities from the Don this week, plus a glancing reference to Wimbledon.