Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Friday’s current setter is Don Manley who is also known as Giovanni, Duck, Pasquale, Quixote, and Bradman (all punningly connected with the name Don or Donald)
Toughie No 3356 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Sparks for what I thought was relatively straightforward for a Friday Toughie. It’s a pangram.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3356”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment **
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. A couple of clues in this nice puzzle resisted parsing for a while, which bumped the difficulty rating up to 4*. Continue reading "DT 30742"
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today we have a fine puzzle from the setter who fills his grid with every letter but X. Lots of smiles during the solve as numerous pennies dropped due to the excellent misdirection in many clues. Continue reading "DT 30736"
Toughie No 3348 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A typically enjoyable puzzle from Osmosis which is perhaps slightly gentler than what he usually provides. The puzzle has zero anagrams, 25/26th of a pangram and a plentiful supply of abbreviations (I’m glad I’ve set up a shortcut for that word in Microsoft Word).
Thanks to Osmosis.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3348”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment **
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I’d love to say that I sailed through this puzzle, but that would be a lie. The solve involved a fair bit of reverse engineering of some intricate wordplay, along with a dollop of electronic help. All that pondering left no time to search for pics, but I’m sure that the commentariat can provide a few good ones. Continue reading "DT 30730"
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I thought that this fun puzzle was just right for the Friday slot. Continue reading "DT 30724"
Toughie No 3340 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Our setter continues his practice of providing a ‘nearly pangram’ (there’s no K as far as I can see). He’s also given us an anagram-less puzzle – I particularly admire his ability to clue the four peripheral names without the need to resort to anagrams. I enjoyed this a lot – thanks to Osmosis.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3340”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment **
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I thought that this puzzle had some clues that were straightforward to parse and a few that were not. I spent a long time pondering those, which left no time to search for pictures. They should return next week. Continue reading "DT 30718"