Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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This puzzle was published on 29th March 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has offered us yet another enjoyable solve this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle. Hope to have your valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3362 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3665 by Django
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from a very Spring-like Wirral – just as long as you can stay in the sun and out of the rather toothy wind!
I was delighted -and somewhat nervous – when I saw Django’s name when I opened my Dead Tree. I missed his recent Tuesday appearance and was hoping for a repeat visit. However, I was also well aware that I don’t always find his puzzles straightforward, so solving against a deadline adds an element of peril. I always start by getting lost in Django’s narratives – I read the clues as mini stories, and forget to take them as directions to an answer, and it takes a little while before I start to treat them like a puzzle. That’s a large part of what I like about Django’s crosswords, and today was no exception.
We have an interesting mix of (relative) “gimmes” to get the ball rolling, some good mid-rage difficulty clues and some that took quite a lot of head-scratching to tease out, hence the elevated overall difficulty rating. A fun challenge, though, and many thanks to Django for giving the brain cells a jump-start! I’m giving rosettes today to 12d, 16d and 19d. However, top prize goes to 24d, for the amusing mental image.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***
A pretty gentle offering today that ought not to present too many difficulties for most. That said I didn’t see the why at 28a & as I’m dashing off to play golf sought assistance so perhaps I’m being a bit cheeky giving it just the single * for difficulty. Fun while it lasted but all over maybe a wee bit too quickly. Thanks to Anthony Plumb, I assume, for another well clued puzzle.
I see Django is over in t’other place so that will be worth a visit.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Happy Easter from Ilkley, where for once the sunrise was actually visible at our Easter Day Son-Rise service by the Cow & Calf rocks:
(Click to enlarge.)
Sunday Toughie No 219
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A Happy Easter to you all, I am celebrating with this;
In this crossword, from my Four C’s (Coffee, Cycling, Crosswords and Cheese) I am only missing the last one. Although I suppose 14a is on the way there.
A bit of a surprise to see Silvanus here, when I opened this last night, but a pleasant one. Despite not fully understanding 3d I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too. 14a and 16d clues, and I have hinted a very subjective half. If you are still struggling, I will try to give an extra nudge or so if asked.
A reminder to let me know if you are interested in the forthcoming Mid-Year Bash All are welcome, and it should be a good time.
Does anyone else remember 23d and Booster? I have been on a nostalgia fest
Here we go, Folks…
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Well, Gemini you really have to start paying attention to your prompts: this time it confidently corrected me: “This is EV 1664 by Cid, which you may have seen mislabeled or re-indexed as 1741 in certain digital archives or collections.… Continue reading
A very good Easter Sunday morning from Winnipeg where I have been pondering on the origins of the Easter Bunny. I sort of assumed that it was a Hallmark Thing conjured up by my Southern neighbours but, apparently, that is not the case. That unimpeachable source Wikipedia suggests that the Easter Bunny is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter originating among German Lutherans as early as the late 16th Century! Decorated Easter Eggs, not made of chocolate, go back even further.
For me, and I stress for me,© I might have been having an off day but somewhat reminiscent of ST 2978 on November 18th, 2018 – four long ‘uns (only one an anagram), five anagrams (one partial), two lurkers (one reversed), and one homophone in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
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