Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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Radler has produced a fine crossword in memory of his mother Anne. There are lots of violin and violin music related clues throughout the puzzle. It holds together very nicely and is not too stretching. Personally, I think it is his best crossword to date. A few minor quibbles do not detract from an enjoyable crossword. Many thanks to Radler for entertaining us this week.
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Welcome to the seventeenth in our series of weekly puzzles.
Radler has dedicated this puzzle to his mother, who sadly passed away recently. Although it contains family references, the only information that you need is provided with the puzzle.
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A few hints to get you started.
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.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 10th June.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
[Today we reach a rather special milestone – this is the 1,000th post published on the blog! BD]
Despite racing through this Firefly offering there were some quite tricky clues to negotiate and two I couldn’t immediately grasp (6a and 18d – thanks to BD for the pointers). For the most part the clues were straightforward and unspectacular but, despite a minor quibble with the presentation of its anagram fodder, I thought 6d was very nicely done, while 25a gets my COD vote. There was one area that held me up – the SE corner was by far the hardest to crack, even with 7d and 27a offering several letters.
My favourite clues are in blue and it’s usually the case they don’t quite match with yours, so please point out your own favourites.
And please leave a comment telling us what you thought of today’s puzzle. 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 *****
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!
A big thank you to Gazza for allowing me to make use of his chair for the day.
On with today’s puzzle. Giovanni, as you would expect, has delivered some finely constructed clues with very smooth surface readings. I found the difficulty to be greater than last week but really enjoyed the challenge. The tiny niggle I have is at 21a where not only is the answer not widely known (I would suggest) but the solver is left with a choice of two wordplay elements after filling all the checking letters. How many of you had to search to confirm the answer?
Speaking of answers, if you are new to the blog you can, as ever, find them by dragging your cursor between the curly brackets. 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 pleasant enough stroll for a Thursday morning, very friendly for newer solvers, and very reminiscent of the Everyman puzzle from the Observer newspaper, presumably the same setter. Setting these puzzles does require a particular skill, despite what many may think, and our compiler today demonstrates this very well.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *
Bufo is on holiday this week – he is doubly lucky!
Excalibur does seem to be the Marmite of Crosswordland.
Before you read this review I feel that it is only fair to disclose that personally I can’t stand Marmite.
The puzzle was certainly not enhanced by the use of one of the Telegraph’s cornery grids – these should have been consigned to the scrapheap many years ago. Take a look at any Times puzzle and you will see what I mean. For me the puzzle broke down into those four corners – the North and South East were very easy, but I got bogged down in the other two.
Favourite clues are highlighted in blue!
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. I will find this particularly interesting today, hence the sub-heading.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Quite often if the Friday Cryptic and Toughie have been particularly testing, the Saturday Prize Puzzle can seem a bit easier in comparison. DT 26,252 and Toughie 362 were splendid examples of the compiler’s art so I started this Saturday’s puzzle expecting a less taxing challenge. How wrong I was, there was a complete range of interesting clues and more exciting for me, as I wasn’t aware of such a thing until I became a fan of Big Dave’s blog, was that the puzzle is a Pangram! Thanks too to Gnomethang for giving me the chance to practice my reviewing skills.
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 ****
I know that Osmosis is not everyone’s cup of tea with his complicated wordplay and seemingly endless supply of reversals, but I normally enjoy battling with him and I enjoyed this one. Let us know what you thought of it, and please remember to click on one of the five stars below.
I won’t be blogging again until next Tuesday, since Gnomethang is standing in for me on the Friday Cryptic.