Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, after last week’s walk in the park we have a pretty tricky puzzle from Jay this week. It was close to getting 4* but I clicked 13d just in time! I enjoyed the tussle! You don’t really need to start with the downs but it will help if you have your slightly American hat on today as several of the clues have a distinctly US flavour.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
To date Dada’s Toughies have appeared on Thursday, Wednesday and Tuesday in that order. Today completes the second cycle, and what a wonderful puzzle this is. I’m yet to be convinced about 14 across, but there is much to enjoy among the rest of the clues, with the blue highlighter being liberally used.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Nothing too difficult today (although there is a pretty obscure American composer, you should be able to get his name from the wordplay and checking letters). We do, however, have a bonus in the form of a Nina with a couple of Quickie-style puns and that earns the puzzle an extra enjoyment star from me – if you haven’t found them look at the bottom of the review.
If you need to see an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue (those of you using mobile devices should consult the FAQ for advice on how to do this).
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Libellule is otherwise engaged today so he and I have done a swap, which enables me to blog a puzzle from our very popular Monday setter. I don’t know about you but I thought that this was a bit trickier than we usually get on Mondays. It has a good supply of the trademark cryptic definitions and I found it very entertaining.
Please let us know how you got on. If you want to reveal an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
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Morning All!. I’m covering for BD whilst he is recovering from his birthday and the Tilsit-hosted Northern Sloggers and Betters meeting in Todmorden.
Thank you to everyone who came and made yesterday’s meet very convivial and pleasant. The venue was delightful (although food service was a bit slow!) and it could only be one of our gang who pointed out that the name of the bar, Bramsche, was an anagram of Chambers!… Continue reading
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Welcome to one humdinger of a crossword set by “Nina”, none other than John Henderson in drag! He had donned industrial strength hob-nailed boots for this crossword. Although there are a number of more straightforward clues, there are some real stinkers. At the time of preparing the review, the wordplay for 3d still eludes the combined efforts of Crypticsue, Gazza and me to crack it. Update: Elgar has given us the solution. See below.
When solving this crossword, you should ignore the preamble to begin with and then solve the crossword as normal. Although the grid is unusual in design, it is still a regular cryptic crossword. Instructions will be given at the end on how to reveal the Nina that is hidden in the grid.
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Welcome to the latest in our series of puzzles, which have now been running every week for over two years.
This special puzzle has been prepared for those attending the Northern S&B meeting and it has kindly been made available to us.
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First of all, many happy returns of the day to Her Majesty the Queen, Big Dave, Libellule (a special one for the latter!) and anyone else whose birthday is today. Big Dave is celebrating his birthday at the Sloggers & Betters in Todmorden and so I am in the hot seat for the day – I would have loved to join the celebrations but West Yorkshire is just a bit too far for a day trip from Kent!
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, an assortment of clues, including some of the more difficult ones, have been selected and hints provided for them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from the Calder Valley! As you are probably aware, there was a bit of a mix-up this morning with the puzzle previously inadvertently published a couple of weeks back being republished this morning on line and a different puzzle in the paper. However all is now sorted out and we have a pleasant puzzle by Ozymandias to tackle. I can confirm that our setter today is not the previously published setter that has used that name in the past.
A nice enjoyable puzzle, well suited to Friday, which kept me amused on a bus journey this morning, with a little tip of my hat to Crypticsue who helped me with a couple of stuckages. I am a bit concerned about one or two words used as anagram indicators that wouldn’t normally be so, but it’s a small point in a good puzzle.