Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A pretty straightforward puzzle after the two thematic Sundays. Not much excitement on the face of it, but we still get very precise clues, and a little bit of novelty at 20A.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
If last week’s Giovanni was a pussycat then this one has considerably sharper teeth. It may not be a lion but it’s at least a cheetah. But it is a well-behaved cheetah with Giovanni’s usual impeccable clueing. Tell us what you think of it in a comment!
As always the answers are hidden between the brackets under the clues. Highlight the white space between the brackets to reveal.
I’m posting this a little earlier than usual because I’m keen to get to grips with the Toughie to find out what Elgar has provided for us on this auspicious occasion.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A fine Thursday puzzle by Kcit with a good set of challenging clues beautifully written with nice surface readings. The answer to 1 across appeared in DT Cryptic 26263 last month, which I also blogged.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish my dear friends John H (Elgar / Enigmatist / Nimrod) and Jane T (Jetdoc) all the best on the occasion of their wedding tomorrow. I hope to be at the reception and look forward to toasting their health and happiness, along with many crossword friends.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Cephas gave us a very enjoyable crossword this week – Barrie summed it up nicely “ Very interesting and enjoyable puzzle … very tough in parts… but … an encouraging start” and I can’t think of anything I could say which would describe it up any better than that. My BD rating reflects the difficulty of some of the clues and the fact that we all got a great deal of pleasure from solving the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
It’s mystery setter time again. If you don’t enjoy charades, then you’d better give this one a miss! A couple of good clues get all but drowned out by the rest, but they rescued this puzzle from one-star status.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Notabilis has given us a thoroughly entertaining puzzle with a good sprinkling of “aha” moments. As always with Notabilis, there seem to be two stages involved in solving the puzzle – firstly finding the answers, and then for a number of clues working out why. Let me know in a comment if you enjoyed both processes as much as I did.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I thoroughly enjoyed this Wednesday’s offering from Jay. A lovely mix of clues, anagrams, hidden words, all-in-ones and even one of those pesky every other letter ones which I am only just (even after all these years) managing to recognise. Thank you Jay for giving me such a nice puzzle to review. I hope you all agree with my opinion and don’t all rush for the 5d! Hard to pick favourite clues today but I will plump for 1d, 17d and 21d.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A gentle “Toughie”, as is usual from Messinae.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant solve from Ray T today – possibly a shade easier than we’ve come to expect from him (but still not as easy as today’s Toughie!). Let us know what you think by leaving a comment, and please don’t forget to click on one of the stars at the bottom.
For those who need some answers, they are hidden between the brackets under each clue. Highlight the space between the brackets to reveal.
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Good Evening All! Prolixic has given us another very enjoyable puzzle for the NTSPP series. I found slightly tougher than his last but there is nothing really problematical that I can see having reviewed it a few weeks after test solving it. Continue reading “NTSPP – 023 (Review)”