Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is a nice straightforward crossword today, although some will be disappointed by it, new cruciverbalist’s should enjoy it. From a personal point of view a number of weak cryptic definitions made this crossword a bit of a let down. As usual comments are appreciated, and please let us know how much you actually liked or disliked it by voting.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
There are some pretty good clues here, and a decent grid. But there are also a few of my pet hates among the clues … Continue reading “DT 26002 – Review”
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Apologies for my late arrival, my hospital appointment over-ran and a traffic delay also threw a spanner in the works.
Quite a tough struggle today and a real sense of achievement when the last letter went into the grid. Firefly in all his print guises, produces some really ferocious challenges and today’s was no exception. However I should say that some of the clues today left a bit to be desired and I have covered those in the blog.
I suspect that 29ac will provide many of the talking points today. Have your say at the end of the blog. New posters should note that their first posts may take a little time to appear, this is because first posts are checked to stop spammers from hijacking things. Don’t forget the star ratings at the end of the review as well. Click on your rating to tell everyone what you thought of it.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
As the comments on all the reviews that I’ve done have amply demonstrated, it’s very rare for everyone to agree on whether a given puzzle is “easy” or “difficult”, but I venture to suggest that we will not get many comments today from solvers complaining that this one is too difficult.
As usual the answers (should you need them) are concealed inside the curly brackets – select the white space to reveal them. Also, please take the time to vote at the bottom of the review, to indicate how much you liked this puzzle. As always your comments are welcome.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
There are some good clues in this puzzle, but the overall effect is spoilt, for me, by the way the word order in many clues is mangled in an attempt to improve the surface reading. Also there are many (too many?) very short answers, a lot of them double definitions; too many of any one type of clue can make the whole puzzle unbalanced. I’d love to hear your views on it, and please take the time to cast your vote for the enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom of the review.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
If you enjoy playing charades, then this is the puzzle for you. For the rest of us it was an average puzzle apart from the one or two new words.
You can add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A mixture of a number of good clues and some that are no longer in the first flush of youth! It must be increasingly difficult to find new clues for four-letter words, and you won’t find many here, which is a shame as the rest of the puzzle was very enjoyable. I know that there is always going to be someone to whom a clue is new, but most of you will have seen these before progressing to Toughies. Continue reading “Toughie 196”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
At one stage, when writing this review, I suspected that there was another Clued Up cock-up in the 20d clue, and I even went so far as to go out and buy the paper, only to find that the clue there is identical. Apart from that it’s a fairly straightforward puzzle, though with two words which were new to me.
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space to reveal them. Please take the time to vote for the enjoyment factor by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Back from my short stay in Stalag Luft Calderdale Hospital, where I staged a daring escape by making a small but serviceable glider from pee pots that were stashed in my secret store there. With a good wind I was able to launch myself off the roof and soar majestically down the Calder Valley and landed safe and sound back in Hebden Bridge.
And after a weekend allegedly recuperating, we have the Monday Maestro to tackle. After last week’s plethora of double definition clues, we seem to have an abundance of cryptic definitions which you either love or hate.
I found today’s puzzle pleasant and the usual fine warm-up to the week, but I do have an issue that the answer to one of the clues is almost handed to you on a plate by the clue to the intersecting answer. The answer is at 23 across and the clue at 21 down. I just think it looks untidy and would it have made the puzzle ultra-difficult by letting 21 down read “23 across-ed sheep tear about”? The expression at 10 across is new to me, and there could have been an ambiguity at 8 down, but it is resolved by the subsidiary indications. There are also issues with the use of “a”, which in some clues is essential, but in others is padding and would affect the clue’s surface reading if left out.
Let’s go……
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A friend, himself a setter, emailed me today and described this as “A crossword for connoisseurs”. Who am I to disagree? I have given hints for those which I think will cause the most problems.
At the bottom of the post you will see an array of five stars – use these to give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
For the weekend prize crosswords I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. A full analysis of this puzzle will be available at 12.00 next Friday, 14th August.