Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
Once again Busman delivers a Toughie puzzle at the easy end of the spectrum. I didn’t like this any more or less than today’s regular cryptic.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
From some of the General Knowledge type answers today it looks as if one of the mystery setters from Thursdays has been re-assigned to Tuesdays. I’ve given this one four stars for difficulty – this means that it’s my opinion that it’s a bit more difficult than the average Telegraph Cryptic (and quite a bit more difficult than yesterday’s which I would only have given one star). But, especially after the discussion yesterday, I would like to reiterate that this is just my personal opinion – it’s not written in stone and you are perfectly at liberty to disagree.
There are an awful lot of abbreviations used in this puzzle (see 1d) and, to be honest, by the time I finished writing the review I was a bit fed up with writing the word abbreviation. Let us know what you thought in a comment.
Continue reading “DT 26393”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Normal service is resumed from the Monday Maestro, an enjoyable but non too taxing solve. However once again I don’t expect many of you to need the blog, so hopefully we might see some more escapees from the CC. I was tempted to give this one star for difficulty but decided against it, anticipating howls of protest. Favourite clues, 7d and 22d.
You can see the full answer just by highlighting the space between the curly brackets.
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First, some news. Tilsit had his operation on Wednesday and is currently recovering in the Huddersfied Royal Infirmary. He is recovering well and I spoke to him last night. He hopes to be back soon, but his online activities are hindered by poor cellphone reception in the hospital.
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 **
A moderately difficult Toughie is made more difficult than it should be by careless enumeration. While 26 across correctly hyphenates the adjectival part of the answer, the same has not been applied to 2 down. A couple of other clues should, in my opinion (and that of the dictionaries that I consulted) have hyphens.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
When I logged on to CluedUp this morning I thought that we weren’t going to have a puzzle today as the home page was still pointing at yesterday’s. But I eventually found today’s, disguised as number 26. It’s a typical Giovanni, with one nod towards today’s date. Let us know your thoughts about it in a comment.
If you’re still stuck for an answer after reading the hint just highlight the space between the brackets under the relevant clue.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
I made very hard work of this and feel obliged to give it 5 stars for difficulty. I don’t know whether it is that difficult or whether I was just out of sorts. After being stuck for quite a time I needed a second cup of tea to get the brain functioning again and then finished it fairly comfortably.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Afternoon All! I found this thoroughly enjoyable but not so hard. I used to struggle with Cephas until I became accustomed to his style which is odd since it is a more gentle style of setting than some. There were a few clues that caused some trouble on the day but nothing particularly contentious if you have your Crosswordland eyes open.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
A quick glance at the Quick crossword reveals that all bar one of the clues are single words, confirming that the odds are heavily on Ray T today. There will be howls of protest as this puzzle is even more difficult than usual.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
There are lots of proper names in this puzzle – forenames, surnames, towns, regions and countries. There are also a few words which are new (to me at any rate) but Giovanni, as usual, makes the wordplay fairly straightforward for these.
As always, we like to get your opinions in a comment, and please remember to show how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars below.