Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have been served up a very solid offering today by Jay. Personally, I found it to be a bit more difficult than his typical fare. Nevertheless, I solving it was a thoroughly enjoyable exercise – and I toyed with the idea of giving it another star in that category.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
When I see that Warbler is the setter I know I’m in for a delightful puzzle, and today was no exception. I did think at one time that a pangram was in the offing, but V and X failed to appear.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **/***
We have a puzzle with a bit of an American flavour from a mystery setter today. It didn’t really grab me when I was solving it, but I did like it a bit better when I was writing the blog. Let us know your views in a comment.
To reveal an answer just highlight the space between the brackets under the clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
About on a par with last Monday’s I think, a bit more difficult than usual. I am sure 11a is the most complicated clue I have seen from Rufus for some time, and we also have the return of a couple of old chestnuts.
On another note the Telegraph puzzles site seems to be suffering at the moment. It seems slow to respond, and then when I tried to submit today’s puzzle it took fifteen minutes and a large number of Error 0’s.
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As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from the Calder Valley and from Big Dave Towers! We are doing a double hander today with BD doing the Downs and me the Acrosses. I’m not feeling 100% and will retire to my bed after doing my bit. A lovely puzzle from Notabilis today with plenty to make you smile and nice way to end what I feel has been a mixed Toughie week. It’s one of those puzzles that took a bit of working out, but once you see the answer and match it to the clue, you can see and appreciate the way it works (and the mind of the evil genius behind it!). As usual with Notabilis, some of the clues are innovative ways of working clues, 8 across being a great example. How many setters would have clued it in that way?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola again from the Vega Baja – bet you didn’t expect to see me again this week! Gazza is unavailable this morning so I’ve taken up the reins for him.
I’ve never blogged anything other than a Wednesday Jay puzzle so this was an interesting experience. Giovanni has provided a splendid puzzle with some elegant and complicated clues but, thankfully, it’s nowhere near as hard as last week’s!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This week our Mystery Setter gave us a very enjoyable, albeit not very time-consuming, Saturday prize puzzle. Thank you to him (?) once again from us all for an entertaining Saturday diversion, particularly me as the quick solve left more time to deal with our strawberry ‘mountain’ – more jam anyone??
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Although I had no problem solving this one or understanding how the clues worked, I felt there were quite a number of weak clues that detracted from the enjoyment.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Two difficulty ratings today. The first is for those, like me, who sail through Ray T’s puzzles and the second is for those that struggle. Either way, the enjoyment level is the same.