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 and a Happy New Year to one and all. This is a good start to 2012 from the Wednesday Wizard with the usual mix of clue types and smooth surfaces. I thought for a while we were going to be in 1* territory but I stalled a bit on the last 3 or 4!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, I managed to survive Benidorm more or less unscathed and have got home to find this excellent puzzle from the Wednesday Wizard – deep joy! For the most part it’s really only a 2* difficulty but a couple of clues had me scratching the head a bit so I drifted over into 3* time. It will be interesting to know what others think.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Phew, I think Jay must have missed the memo about being easy on us solvers this week! I found this to be a bit tricky in places! Perhaps it’s just me! Enjoyable tussle though.
I’ve gone for 3* but my time was getting very close to 4* again. As is often the case with a Jay puzzle I’d recommend starting on the downs. It’s abit light on anagrams so I know some of you will be disappointed.
Continue reading “DT 26741”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where we are having a run of unseasonably mild weather – it may be shaping up to be a green Christmas. Today Jay delivers his typical offering of solid, well constructed clues. I gave it two stars for difficulty as I completed it with minimal outside assistance (despite there being a couple of new British terms for me).
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where it’s pretty chilly but the sun’s just come over our back wall so it might warm up a bit soon.
The usual excellent stuff from Jay today which I really enjoyed solving. Perhaps a bit more than usual because I actually met Jay at the Sloggers and Betters in Derby last week and a very nice chap he is! It’s a bit more personal when you can put a face to the setter! Based on my solving time I’ve gone for 2* difficulty but having written the hints I think there are a few tricky ones here so I won’t be surprised if people disagree.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa where we are experiencing rainy and unseasonably mild weather (rather British-like, I suppose) after a snowfall last week. Today, Jay gives us an entertaining puzzle with a theme appropriate to the date. I breezed through the bottom half but struggled a bit with the top half (in particular, the northwest quadrant). Perhaps my Scottish ancestry influenced the enjoyment factor.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hello from the Vega Baja where it is raining cats and dogs with some spectacular thunder and lightning and my garage roof has started leaking again!
I think this one is a little trickier than recent Wednesdays so I’ve gone for 3* difficulty. I’m sure that some of you will disagree but I think you will agree it’s quite a fun puzzle.
Continue reading “DT 26717”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. The usual excellent Wednesday fare, not too difficult but very enjoyable. I’ve given 2* for difficulty based on my solving time but it was very close to being 3*, so I guess some of you will disagree with me.
Continue reading “DT 26711”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. Maybe it’s just me but thought this was a tad harder than the last few Wednesdays, but none the worse for that! Maybe Jay doesn’t want me to get complacent! Enjoyable though and with enough easier clues to give you an ‘in’ to the puzzle for the trickier bits.
Continue reading “DT 26705”
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where it feels as though Spring has returned this week – I had my shorts on yesterday (not a pretty sight)!
Today we have an excellent pangram from Jay which isn’t very difficult, apart from a couple of trickies. I’ve given 4* for entertainment simply because when I realized I had filled in the last clue I had a real sense of disappointment that it was all over.