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 ***
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.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Canada where we are bracing for the first frost of the season. Today, we have a quintessential Jay puzzle, populated with lots of charades, plenty of clues where one must either take or delete the first, last or middle letters, and sprinkled with a few substitutions (A for B type clues). It took me longer than normal to complete it – but that is undoubtedly due to attempting to watch a hockey game at the same time (and, yes, my team did win).
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja, where Autumn has set in – jeans, socks and rugby shirt required today!
A super puzzle today from the Wednesday Wizard with some fantastic clues. I thought it a bit trickier than his recent offerings but very entertaining and I nearly gave it 5* for enjoyment, but that might be just due to my mood at the moment. A few ‘D’ohs’ and a few bangs of the head on the table as the pennies dropped but that may be due to having visitors and therefore more than the usual excessive alcohol intake!
Continue reading “DT 26687”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. The usual Wednesday wizardry from Jay this week. Not too taxing on the whole but a couple of slightly tricky ones to keep us alert! I did really enjoy this one though and there’s a lot of blue today. It must be the lack of stress from not having to try for ages to get into the website so thanks to BD and Phil for the new service! Just hope it’s not needed for too long.
Like last week the picture opportunities are a bit limited but my Technical Director has been taken back on as a consultant today (at exorbitant rates) and is currently searching for a suitable video clip for 22a so many thanks to her!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. First I would like to say a big thanks to the DT crossword editor, Phil McNeill, for emailing me the puzzle at midnight last night, otherwise you might not have had a blog today! Also thanks to Libellule for organising it.
As for the puzzle – a bit trickier than the last couple of weeks, I thought, so I’ve gone for 3* difficulty. Although about 80% of it went in easy enough I sort of ground to a halt on the last 3 or 4 so I’ll blame it on brain fade at 0100CEST! The only thing wrong with this puzzle is a distinct lack of picture opportunities but I’ve had a go (and managed a car)!
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, I’ve easily broken my all-time speed record for a DT cryptic on this one! But, as I said last week, they don’t have to be hard to be fun and I really enjoyed solving this one. What do you think? Was I just on the right wavelength today or are Jay’s recent puzzles getting a bit easier?
Continue reading “DT 26669”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. This puzzle is living proof that it doesn’t have to be hard to be enjoyable. It’s one of Jay’s easier offerings but I had a great time solving it and there’s quite a lot of blue today!