Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Sunday Toughie No 214 by proXimal
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 1st March 2026
The publication of the result contains the line;
The answer to 27a is misspelt. We apologise for the error.
Well done to J De Bruyn, Sheffield for winning
Sunday Toughie No 214
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proXimal is here again with all his Sunday Toughie trademarks. Tougher than usual I think, but not helped by my failure to find 27a in any dictionary! There appears to be a surplus I and the only source I can find suggests it is a common misspelling. Tomdisappointingsturges 65 will be very disappointed indeed if we allow misspellings to become commonplace.
We have 14a and 16d clues today and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to get across the line.
Here we go, Folks…
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A lovely Toughie today, worthy of the title and set by one of my favourite setters Messinae. A nice feeling came over me when I entered the last answer, and I was able to look back on a good fight with the compiler.
As usual, feel free to add your comments afterwards, and don’t forget to add a star rating as well.
Couple of grumbles with the website clues in the Java version. No link between 1a and 10a at 1 across and an apostrophe missed off 8 down, which made the clue look wrong.
Off we go!