Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Elkamere is Dean Mayer, who also sets for The Times, as Anax in The Independent and as Loroso in the FT
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
As Elkamere puzzles go I thought that this one was on the gentle side, though ‘gentle’ from Elkamere is still reasonably difficult compared to some other Toughie setters. Do let us know what you thought.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
An excellent puzzle to round off the Toughie week.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *****
Elkamere has given us a very enjoyable puzzle to round off the Toughie week. Many favourites in this one, but the one that gave me the biggest smile was 25 across, even though overseas solvers, and many home solvers, may find it difficult to resolve the wordplay.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
While not as difficult as many of the puzzles that occupy the Friday slot, this one more than makes up for it with the entertainment level.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A painful back put paid to my usual Friday morning table tennis session and so I offered to blog today’s puzzle in the expectation that it would be a typical Friday stinker. However, what Cryptic Sue has christened the ‘Bufo’ effect came into play. This effect dictates that the crossword editor will slip in a fairly gentle puzzle whenever it is my day for blogging. This puzzle took me exactly the same time as yesterday’s puzzle and was probably the easiest Elkamere puzzle that I have ever solved. The only minor hold-ups were at 4 across where I needed to work out the answer from the wordplay once I had all the checking letters and at 14 across where the wordplay eluded me for a time.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
An excellent Toughie from Elkamere, although a little on the easy side for the Friday slot
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
This pleasant, but not too difficult, puzzle from Elkamere ends a week of pretty easy Toughies. My only problem was a blind spot in resolving the wordplay for 4 across.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This is a very enjoyable puzzle from Elkamere but not, for me anyway, any less difficult than his last Toughie which appeared in the feared Friday slot. If we get this on Wednesday what’s in store for the rest of the week?
Do leave a comment telling us what you liked or disliked and how you got on.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit has made an unscheduled trip to hospital, so I’m filling in again. I would have awarded this one five stars, but I think that the wordplay for 1 down is so grossly unfair that it tainted the whole puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Tilsit has taken delivery of a new computer today, and he is still trying to find out how it works!
Certainly not the lite version to which we have become accustomed, this is a superb puzzle full of Homer Simpson moments, and well worthy of the highly-prized Friday slot.