Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Not as complicated today, although the grid was a bit “cornery”, there are some nice “gimme” clues available in all corners to get you started. For example 2d, 7d, 24a, and 12d. Mind you it still deserves three stars because after that you still have to tease out the other answers.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Decent grid, harder clues than usual for me – say 50% longer than a typical Saturday timing. Quite a few place-names, though I’d only count one as difficult. Last few answers in approx order for me: 11, 8, 1A, 5, 2, 4. (Dave says I should put A or D next to all the numbers, but I’m too good at choosing the wrong one and generating “You did really mean 8A didn’t you?” comments. So no letters from me except where they’re essential. Tough answer words or wordplay elements were: 8 (medlar), 11, 5, 23. Most of the clues were good, but some really let the side down.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A fairly entertaining challenge from Shamus, who always provides puzzles that are both fair and a reasonable test for solvers. I have to say I found this one a little easier than his usual challenges, but it did contaion things that made me reach for the Chambers.
Shamus is one of Azed’s band of solvers from the Observer every Sunday, and regularly appears in the prize winners for his monthly clue writing competition. Solvers may be interested to know that another of Azed’s band of regulars sadly passed away the other day. Dorothy Taylor, who was 98, had a rather particular claim to fame. Dorothy used to enter puzzles under her sister’s name Mrs B Lewis and her name was used, along with that of another eminent solver, Sir Jeremy Morse, by Colin Dexter, himself a regular Azed prizewinner. And so Morse and Lewis became famous.
[You can see a picture of Dorothy, with Sir Jeremy, in this post on Derek Harrison’s Crossword Message Board. The following entry in the same thread has a picture of her with Colin Dexter and Don (Giovanni) Manley . BD]
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
This is a workmanlike puzzle which should not cause too much aggravation. When starting out with a blank grid it’s always nice to find a few clues that offer you an easy “way in”, and we have several here such as 12a, 24a and 5d.
As usual the answers are inside the curly brackets – just select the white space inside the brackets to reveal them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This is another good Toughie which is not as difficult as some, but is full of well-constructed and entertaining clues.
As Big Dave mentioned in his Toughie review last Friday, we are changing our approach to the Toughie reviews slightly, on the basis that solvers at this level do not need to have every nook and cranny of the wordplay explained. You’ll notice that for some of the more complicated clues I’ve still explained the wordplay in full, whereas for others I’ve just given general hints. I should really appreciate getting feedback as to whether I’ve got the blend right or not. If there is anything that needs further explanation please mention it in a comment and I’ll try to expand on it.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
What a good week this is turning out to be. Today we have a first class puzzle with some of the best surface reading that I have seen in a daily cryptic for some time. One or two minor quibbles where that surface reading gets in the way of the accuracy of the clue, but when you get quality like this who cares!
Following recent discussions on the difficulty rating I have increased this from two stars to three to compensate for clues like 18 down which, while making us oldies smile, will no doubt cause problems for the younger solvers
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
Some setters appear more often than others on the Toughies and Campbell, known elsewhere as Ascot, is certainly one I would like to see more often. On my usual scale this rated only three stars for difficulty, but I have increased it to four to compensate for some lucky guesses on 1, 15 and 27 across and 9, 14 and 16 down!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
After last Tuesday’s disappointing puzzle it is good to get a really solid one with some excellent surface readings. In terms of difficulty I would rate this half way between a standard cryptic and a Toughie, so newcomers should not be discouraged if they cannot finish it without assistance.
As usual the answers can be revealed, if required, by selecting the white space between the curly brackets.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another Monday and here’s our regular setter to entertain us. A pleasant enough solve with not to much to cause stress. Just the thing to help you clear the Monday morning blues.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Our Sunday setter shows once more how to compile a good crossword. An all round enjoyable puzzle, with some excellent surface reading.
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, 19th June.
Some hints to get you started: