Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Beam is Ray Terrell, who also sets regular cryptics which are usually published on Thursdays
Toughie No 3343 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
It’s the time of the month for a Beam Toughie and this one is relatively gentle but enjoyable as ever. Thanks to him.
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Toughie No 3327 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Beam’s here today with all his trademarks (although his sweetheart has taken a different form). There are a couple of homophones which will work for some people, but not for me.
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Toughie No 3311 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
A pretty straightforward puzzle from Beam – thanks to him.
As I may have said before there’s little difference in difficulty (apart from the absence of anagrams in the latter) between Ray T’s back-pagers and Beam’s Toughies. Beam’s self-imposed restriction on the length of his clues does make it rather difficult to incorporate complex wordplay.
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Toughie No 3295 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
It’s Beam’s turn today and he’s given us a relatively straightforward puzzle. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3279 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Beam is here to delight his many fans again (he seems to appear regularly on a 4-week cycle). He’s included all his usual trademarks and as always provides a few synonyms that require some head-scratching.
I was held up for some time on 6d as I read the first word of the clue as ‘flat’ – I do need to go to Specsavers!
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Toughie No 3263 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
It’s Beam on duty today and he’s been pretty gentle with us. Thanks to him.
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Toughie No 3247 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
We have a pretty gentle puzzle from Beam today with all his usual trademarks. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3231 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Beam has given us a fairly gentle puzzle today. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle. Continue reading “Toughie 3231”
Toughie No 3215 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Beam has given us a pretty gentle puzzle today with all of his usual trademarks. Thanks to him.
My only hold-up was needing to check one of the reptiles in 25a. Now I know where one of our Toughie setters got his pseudonym from.
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Toughie No 3199 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Many thanks to Beam for his usual entertaining, succinct and anagram-less puzzle.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.… Continue reading