Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Morning All!, I think that we have another puzzle from a mystery setter who is now alternating with Cephas. The clue type and count is quite similar but the wordplay has a different feel to it so I hope I am right. In any case it was a fun puzzle which I enjoyed solving. It also contained a couple of very good &Lit clues.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
I hoped for something more challenging this week and I got it. This was a proper toughie and thoroughly enjoyable with a set of perfectly fair clues. I did consider giving it 5 stars for difficulty but then decided that the few pints of porter I had in the Burton Bridge Inn last night might have contributed to my slow time. My one complaint about the puzzle is that the grid is another of those substandard ones that Big Dave likes to harp on about. This one has 4 isolated corners and a middle section containing more unchecked letters than checked ones. This particular diagram always makes the solver’s life difficult.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This is almost certainly a Ray T production. Although I found it enjoyable, I expect that the usual suspects will disagree!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Osmosis provides his usual complicated wordplay (though with fewer reversals than usual) but we have a full complement of x within y within z type clues. Apart from a suspect homophone I thought that it was very enjoyable.
I see that we’re approaching Toughie No. 500 which should appear on a Wednesday (lucky me!) – I wonder whether we’ll get an anniversary “special”.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another typical Telegraph puzzle from Jay, our Wednesday wizard.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment *
I leave you to give your own opinions on this puzzle – you know mine!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I don’t know the name of the setter today, but he or she has given us an entertaining puzzle which is not too difficult (although the 17a term was new to me) with a fair number of clues relating to alcohol. Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
If you need to see an answer just drag your cursor through the white space between the curly brackets under the relevant clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Slightly trickier than normal? It seemed so, as I got stuck on a couple of clues for longer than I should have done. Still a fun crossword though. Favourite clues 13a (it reminds me of a sketch from the Fast Show) and 26a,
If you need to reveal the answer, just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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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 ****
Tilsit has been called up for family chauffeuring duties and has left me with an excellent puzzle to review for the second consecutive week.
Look at the two across rows and the two down rows which have three answers.