Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
+– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Welcome to the twenty second in our series of weekly puzzles.
This was the first puzzle that Radler compiled and he has recently revisited it to make it suitable for publication. Knowledge of the theme will assist in solving, but is not essential.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 15th July.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A generous smattering of F1 references in this offering from Petitjean, and my first review of a puzzle by this setter. It was difficult to pinpoint an accurate BD rating and 4/4 may be a compromise. I have a little knowledge of motorsport so some answers were easier for me than they may be for others; combined with some obscure answers elsewhere you may find it warrants 5 stars for Difficulty. For Enjoyment I was close to giving it 5 stars as there are some lovely clues, and certainly no quibbles worth dwelling on. Perhaps what took the edge off was the frequent use of initial/last letters for the sake of tying in with the theme – when it’s not done well it looks a little desperate, and in fairness that’s not the case in this puzzle.
Immediately noticeable, on printing the puzzle, was a clutch of long clues. For me they ran to about ¼ of a second page (hence my brilliantly observed and impossibly clever choice of title) whereas previous puzzles have always fitted on one page with a little spare space above the footer. I’ve been called “Mr Short and Snappy” before – hopefully it was a reference to my cryptic clues – so very long clues can feel like a bit of a slog. But again, as with the initial/last letters thing, the long clues here didn’t seem tortured – in most cases they’re actually very smoothly presented.
I’ve highlighted my favourite clues in blue – please let us know about your favourites too.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
It’s the fourth of July and the puzzle is from a setter who likes to do themes and has worked in the US for the last decade or so. So no surprise that there’s stuff about Independence Day and the USA, past and present. I guess this is a pretty wide thematic range, but I’m still impressed by the 3 very relevant 15-letter acrosses and a grid where the effect of the thematic material is small – the single extra black square in the top and bottom rows. (The 3-word columns at the edges don’t matter as there are only 29 grid entries.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
It’s not the easiest Giovanni today, but it’s entertaining as usual. Let us know what you think of it in a comment.
As always the answers are concealed between the curly brackets under the clues. Drag your cursor through the white space between the brackets to reveal.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this puzzle and thought it was the right standard for a toughie. Although there were a lot of less common words used I didn’t find any of them overly obscure and I finished it without recourse to dictionaries, etc. However, I didn’t care for the grid with its four poorly-connected corners. I had problems with the bottom right but this was caused by my carelessly writing the author’s name in at 23 down and thence being unable to solve the acrosses.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Saturday’s offering from Cephas was, depending on how you solved it : a “challenging”, “tricky”, “enjoyable” “stinker”. I had a couple of moments of “how can I review this when I can’t get two of the clues” but some careful reading made me realise what was required and I finished in one fairly quick sitting. Didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous two days’ splendid offerings but I would say it was challenging but doable with cogitation – posters seemed to find a cycle ride along the Canal du Midi or a walk round a nature reserve or even just a nice cup of tea did the trick. It was nice to see that while Big Dave was taking a well deserved rest over a few pints at the White Horse, there were plenty of others ready to give assistance with those needing help with the trickier clues. There were over 200 comments on this puzzle, so I hope my review will help those who struggled to make sense of it all.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Sometimes when you sit back and look at a puzzle again in order to review it you find that it is better on second reading. This one wasn’t.
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.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this one. It was worth getting bogged down in the top left-hand corner for the “aha” moment when I got 1d. I do wish that CluedUp could manage to print the full enumeration for a multi-part answer against the clue, rather than making you hunt around for the various bits, but this has improved since the days when it didn’t even tell you against the clue itself that it was multi-part, so I mustn’t grumble too much.
As always we welcome your comments, and please don’t forget to show how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another fine puzzle from Jay, our regular Wednesday setter.
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.