Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Excalibur is Nuala Considine. She was, until early 2009, the setter for the Sunday Telegraph.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I found this to be an agreeable puzzle of average difficulty. I did struggle with the last answer (14 down) but I got there eventually.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
At first glance I was put off by the diagram with its double unches (unchecked letters) and what looked like a lot of black squares. It’s definitely not one of the best grids I’ve ever seen. I found the puzzle difficult but managed it unaided in the end. There several things in the clues that I didn’t really care for but I actually quite enjoyed the challenge.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
I’ve not reviewed one of Excalibur’s puzzles for some time and the good news is that this is nowhere near as poor as some that we had last year. On the other hand we still get a number of clues where the wordplay is backwards and some where the surface reading doesn’t make any sense. I progressed through it at a rate of knots before getting stuck for ages in the SE corner.
Your views are welcome, as always, and please remember to grade the puzzle by clicking on one of the stars below.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Fewer Marmite© clues than usual, and there are no complaints about the grid this time.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
I found this to be a toughie of above-average difficulty. There were some nice touches but I thought it was spoilt by some rather dodgy anagram indicators.
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 *
One look at the grid – double unches, isolated corners – and I feared the worst. It was not long before the tooth-sucking began and those suspicions were confirmed.
I offer the wordplay without critique!
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 ***
No real problems with this one. I was a bit slow in finishing off the top left-hand corner but I put that down to the brain not functioning fully following a hard day at Uttoxeter races yesterday.
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 *
Disjointed, lacking structure and providing very little entertainment. But enough of the England football team, what of today’s Toughie? Well, pretty much the same really. I did think at one time that Excalibur’s puzzles were improving a bit after some of the very poor ones from last year, but it’s difficult to find much positive to say about this one (well, one thing, I did quite like 26a). Some of the surface readings (e.g. 19a, 15d and 25d) are gibberish, and there was nothing that made me smile, let alone laugh.
You may of course have a totally different view, and, whether you do or not, we’d love to get a comment from you.
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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 **
A routine puzzle from Excalibur, which had too many four letter words for my liking. There was a bit of a glitch with the grid in that 7 down was missing, but this should be corrected by now.
I have never heard of the phrase at 32 across, despite having played the game for over 25 years and play to a reasonable standard. I liked the cryptic definition at 8 down but after last Friday’s splendid challenge, overall this didn’t really give me the same buzz. Shame really.