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, I managed to survive Benidorm more or less unscathed and have got home to find this excellent puzzle from the Wednesday Wizard – deep joy! For the most part it’s really only a 2* difficulty but a couple of clues had me scratching the head a bit so I drifted over into 3* time. It will be interesting to know what others think.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This makes three consecutive Tuesday Toughies that I have enjoyed!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Good morning all. Gazza is having a lie-in today and offered me the opportunity to blog one of the weekday puzzles. After a run of fairly gentle crosswords our setter today has given us a more meaty offering for us to get our teeth into. Fortunately, no turkey in this crossword just a lot of tricky wordplay for us to savour.
My favourite clues are shown highlighted in blue. Top of the Pops for me today was 26a.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I gave this two stars for difficult today, mainly because I had to think about 27d for a little while. Otherwise an entertaining if not overly cryptic themed (Winter and New Year) puzzle from Rufus today.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *****4 – Enjoyment *****
No fluffy pink slippers today – Elgar has produced this special double-Toughie for Christmas Day. Doubling the size is bad enough, but the addition of the kind of gimmick usually only found in the more advanced barred puzzles has made this four times as difficult.
Please read the instructions given with the puzzle very carefully before starting. Discovering the theme early on, which I did, helps greatly with the puzzle, as does the Nina around the edges of each of the two halves of the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Seasons Greetings from the Calder Valley. Osmosis is here today with his usual fiendish constructs, clever surface readings and off-the-wall ideas. I did find it a little easier than his normal puzzles, but it is still quite a stiff challenge.
I am off for a stay in a remote part of the Lake District for most of the next ten days so I’d like to wish you all a pleasant Christmas and the happiest of New Years. Thanks to all the setters for tormenting us during the year, to Phil McNeill and Daniella at the Telegraph for all their efforts in keeping things on the rails, to Big Dave (and Mrs BD) for looking after this wonderful site and finally to all my fellow bloggers who do a marvellous job “putting the words to lights”. I’ll see you next year!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***
I was expecting a themed puzzle today but it’s a straightforward offering from Giovanni, enjoyable as ever. The grid does contain some of the dreaded double unches which I know that some don’t like although I don’t see them as a problem. Let us know how you fared.
Since this is my last blog before the holiday may I take this opportunity to wish everyone (setters, fellow bloggers, commenters and lurkers) a Very Happy Christmas.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I found this to be of average difficulty after expecting it to be harder. I enjoyed it though I did think that some of the definitions and anagram indicators were a bit iffy.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
This was unmistakably a Ray T puzzle, but certainly one of his easier creations. All the usual trademark clues are present – initial letters, hidden words, innuendo, misdirection, and so on. Oh! and I forget to mention the Queen.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
In terms of difficulty I think that this is pretty much spot on for a Wednesday Toughie, i.e. it makes you think but it’s not mind-blowingly tricky. I enjoyed the tussle with it (and it’s also a pangram).
Let us know how you liked it and please take the time to click on one of the stars below to record your assessment of the puzzle.