Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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This puzzle was published on 7th December 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A slightly tough puzzle from Dada this Sunday that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of the same for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3346 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3601 by Zenas
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Greetings all, and welcome to the Toughie Week.
We have an enjoyable and not-too-difficult puzzle from Zenas today, with a clear theme, but without the associated potential headaches. There were a couple of new words for me (9a and 11d), but they were obtainable by simply following the clear instructions, so no complaints on that score. The “point” reference in 7d was also new. 1d and 2d get honourable mentions for the surface and imagery, and 8d is very clever, but 3d takes my prize today, despite being my last one in. I knew the answer as soon as the theme emerged, but it took a while for the penny to drop to the point where I was satisfied enough to write it in. Many thanks to Zenas for the puzzle, and inducing a bit of early-morning thirst!
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Toughie No 3600 by Elgar
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
Elgar provides his usual mixture of a few gimmes and quite a lot of head-scratchers. I enjoyed battling through it. Thanks to him.
The clue which gave me most problems was 4d and I’m not totally convinced that I understand the ‘shepherd’ bit so do shout out if you have a better idea than mine. [Deansleigh61 has come to the rescue with the correct parsing – see his comment] Continue reading “Toughie 3600”
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31108"
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This puzzle was published on 6th December 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A truly brilliant and superb Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31103 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
As ever with Beam, this isn’t too tricky – as long as your phaser is set to synonym. Some are perhaps slightly more left-field than usual but nowt too alarming. Great fun to be had, with only a little thesaurus-thumbing. And not just one sweetheart today, but two, possibly to make up for the Queen’s absence! All yours.
Continue reading “Toughie 3599”
Toughie No 3598 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
We have a fairly light but very entertaining puzzle from Hudson with many well-disguised definitions. Thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3598”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg. Are you confused that I am back only a week after my last Wednesday blog, so am I. Not really, it is all in the interests of juggling assignments, Gazza is on Toughie duty, while Crypticsue is still hors de combat and I will be here next Wednesday as well. And, we wish Crypticsue well for her continuing recovery.
On the strength of a comment made by Daisygirl on Sunday, I have requested a copy of The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley from the Winnipeg Library. She, DG that is, didn’t say if she enjoyed it, I will let you know if I did.
For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), a very enjoyable puzzle. If my thoughts last week about alternating between two setters on a Wednesday are correct I would say that this is probably a Hudson production but he is on Toughie duty and he won’t always be doing double duty, will he? So, my Half Crowns, Toonies, and Loonies are staying at the back of my sock drawer. Thank you setter for an enjoyable solve and blog.
Sunday Toughie No 201 by Light
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 30th November 2025 Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 201 (Review)”
