Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Since the beginning of 2010, Wednesday’s regular setter is Jeremy Mutch who has visited the blog as Jay. During 2009, Jay set almost all the Thursday puzzles.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. I quite enjoyed this puzzle but I know some of you will disagree. There seems to be more than the usual fiddling about with first and/or last letters and bits of words. I’m not sure why but my favourite TV character is hidden in the grid! Can’t see anything else but I usually miss these things so there might well be something there.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the weather continues to be the weather, been told off for mentioning it so I won’t!. Well, I loved this puzzle from the Wednesday Wizard – tricky enough not to be a write-in but solvable with a bit of preservation. Maybe some of you might give it 4* for difficulty and some only 2* – be interesting to see the comments.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa where we are just emerging from a spell of cool, wet weather (much like Britain, I gather) into a hopefully prolonged period of more seasonable weather.
Today, we have a typical offering from Jay with plenty of requirements to select specified letters (first, last, inner, outer, odd, even) from words, but no substitution (X for Y) type clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. The usual excellent stuff to brighten up an already bright and sunny Wednesday morning! Maybe I’m just in a good mood today but I really enjoyed this puzzle even though it didn’t last long. As is often the case with a Jay puzzle it’s probably better to start with the downs – on first pass through I got 5 of the acrosses but then 12 of the downs and for once the two long anagrams fell quickly!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. Yet another fine puzzle from the Wednesday Wizard! It might have been only 1* but for the five long anagrams which I’m always slow at unravelling. Still, they do give a lot of checkers! If you’re a fan of anagrams (unlike me) I guess the puzzle would be 4* enjoyment.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja on a delightful sunny morning. In my opinion Jay’s on top form this morning and I really enjoyed this puzzle. Some excellent clues but enough ‘gimmes’ to get you going. For reasons unknown I found the SW corner to be the tricky bit so I’ll be interested to see if you agree.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja and welcome to my 50th blog – not exactly Sachin Tendulkar but a half century ain’t bad!
We have a rather unusual grid today with twelve sets of ‘double unches’ but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of another excellent Wednesday puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where April showers are extending into May. Pommers is traveling and apparently somewhat cut off from the Internet. However, I am sure he is closely following – and no doubt concerned by – the recent play of United. As for my sports obsession, the Ottawa Senators have already been knocked out of the hockey playoffs here in North America.
Apparently I get the honour of piloting the new blog site on its maiden run. Let’s hope I fare better than the captain of the Titanic.
Today we have a puzzle that is easily recognizable as a Jay creation. It did take me a bit of time to get started. However, once I had established a beachhead, I was able to make steady progress.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, after last week’s walk in the park we have a pretty tricky puzzle from Jay this week. It was close to getting 4* but I clicked 13d just in time! I enjoyed the tussle! You don’t really need to start with the downs but it will help if you have your slightly American hat on today as several of the clues have a distinctly US flavour.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. I don’ t think anyone will be needing these hints today! This is by far the gentlest of all the Jay puzzles that I’ve blogged, easily my fasted solve, but quite enjoyable for all that. For once you don’t need to start with the downs! I got all but two of the across clues on first pass, (although I did get one wrong, d’oh!). Maybe I was just on good form and you’ll all disagree. It will be interesting to hear your views.