Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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[I am in Cheltenham today for the exciting 3D Sloggers & Betters meeting (see sticky post) so Tilsit will be compiling the hints. BD]
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a few of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.
If you are in or near the Cheltenham area why not come along and join us.
Tonight at the Kemble Brewery Inn, 27 Fairview Street, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 2JF from 7.00pm to 10.00pm and afterwards at the Curry Corner – I’ll be there with John “Elgar” Henderson and Eric Westbrook.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Tilsit is receiving treatment for his leg today so it falls to me to blog a proper Friday outing from Notabilis. This was highly enjoyable with smiles and groans on the way. Often, even where the answer was obvious, the wordplay in places displayed all of Notablis’s cunning. It took Gnomes’ law to work out 27d. If Notabilis has included one of his trademark ninas in today’s grid, I have not been able to spot it. {Many thanks to Libellule for pointing out what was staring me in the face all the time. See his comment below.]
Many thanks to Notabilis for an excellent crossword. I have highlighted my favourite clues in blue though top of tree today were 29a and 18d.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Afternoon All!. In common with many of the weekend crosswords last week Virgilius used the occasion to send his BEST WISHES to JOHN (Halpern, setting as Paul in the Guardian and Punk in the Indy) and his wife TALINE on their wedding day. These words are hidden in the unchecked letters in rows 4,6, 10 & 12. I’m sure we all echo those sentiments. We had the usual very enjoyable puzzle from Virgilius with some great images created.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have a pleasant mixture of clues from Giovanni today. Your views, as ever, are very welcome.
To reveal an answer just highlight the space between the wrinkly brackets under the relevant clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
This Saturday’s puzzle from Cephas was one of those where everything fell into place so quickly (hence the 1* difficulty from me, although I do appreciate that others would rate it ** or even ***) that I didn’t have a chance to properly enjoy the wordplay at the time, so it was lucky for me that it was my turn to unravel the clues for the review.Â
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
An enjoyable puzzle that was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it was going to be.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
I’m sure that I’m not the only one who had trouble accessing Telegraph Puzzles today. Please send your complaints to the Telegraph, not that they will take any notice. It’s difficult to understand how, in the 21st Century, a website cannot cope with a few hundred concurrent users – but then it seems to have been designed by people who know more about attractive layouts than they do about crosswords and computer systems.
After a long wait to access the puzzle, it came as somewhat of an anti-climax, especially as I solved today’s superb Elkamere Toughie first. My main complaint about today’s puzzle is that the surface readings of most of the clues were gobbledegook! Take 6 down, for example – “British woman with rock bun that’s littered battle site (11)”. Compare this with Tilsit’s superb competition-winning clue for THE EXIT – “Poor Candy’s no longer in Sex and the City, sadly it’s what she was shown! (3,4)” .
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Undeterred by the quartet of double unches I enjoyed this puzzle with its mini-theme of singers from the 1950s and 1960s. There are quite a few easy ones to give you a good start on solving the trickier clues.
All comments, as usual, are welcome and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to indicate your enjoyment rating.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hello from the Vega Baja on another beautiful morning!
Crosswords are always easier when solved in the morning over a cup of tea and piece of toast but this one must be a strong candidate for being the gentlest Wednesday puzzle since I started blogging, solved in less than half the time of last week’s! As is usual with a Jay puzzle there are 2 or 3 tricky clues to keep us on our toes and it’s not overloaded with anagrams, although there are enough to keep the anagram fans happy I think. Continue reading “DT 26621”