Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
This week’s run of fairly easy puzzles continues with this one from today’s mystery setter. A glimpse at the Quick crossword confirms that the mystery setter is almost certainly Ray T!
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
It seems to me that we get two different levels of Toughie from Notabilis. Those that we see on a Friday tend to be brilliant and fiendish; those that we get earlier in the week (often on a Wednesday – I’m not complaining) are slightly less difficult but still wonderfully entertaining, just like this one. There are some excellent clues here and not an obscure word in sight (with the possible exception of the rarely-used past tense in 19d).
Please let us know what you think of it in a comment and also take the time to show how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars below.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Jay never fails to give us a puzzle that is free of controversy. Here’s another one!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Today’s Busman puzzle was initially ScrewedUp online, which was the final straw for me.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Several of the clues (e.g. 14d, 17d, 22d) today seemed familiar, so much so that at one stage I wondered whether I’d done the whole puzzle before. I’d never heard of 9a, but by the time I’d got the checking letters it was fairly obvious. So, not very taxing and pretty straightforward – let us know in a comment whether you agree or not!
If you want to see an answer drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
The usual offering from Rufus to cheer up our Monday morning cups of breakfast tea. Favourites for me 19a and 31a, whilst 26a gets a could do better.
The answer can be found by highlighting 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 ***
Greetings from the melting Calder Valley. An interesting puzzle from Firefly, which in truth turned into a bit of slog for me. Some nice clues (the best shown in blue), but one of two seemed a bit forced and contrived and this took away the sense of enjoyment for me. Indeed, 5 ac is wrong and misleading, as you’ll see. A number of the clues I solved by looking at interconnecting letters and working them out, which is not ideal. Has anyone heard of the TV impresario in 20 down, 28 across?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** –Enjoyment *****
Another very enjoyable Sunday puzzle – I liked the 200-year musical leap in time between the two long across clue/answer combos
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
We have a typical Giovanni puzzle today. It does contain two words which were new to me, but in both cases the wordplay clearly leads us to the right answer. Let’s have a comment with your views!
If you want to see an answer just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets under the clue.