Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Sometimes when you sit back and look at a puzzle again in order to review it you find that it is better on second reading. This one wasn’t.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I enjoyed this one. It was worth getting bogged down in the top left-hand corner for the “aha” moment when I got 1d. I do wish that CluedUp could manage to print the full enumeration for a multi-part answer against the clue, rather than making you hunt around for the various bits, but this has improved since the days when it didn’t even tell you against the clue itself that it was multi-part, so I mustn’t grumble too much.
As always we welcome your comments, and please don’t forget to show how much you enjoyed it by clicking on one of the stars at the bottom.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Another fine puzzle from Jay, our regular Wednesday setter.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
While not one of the more difficult Toughies, well it is Tuesday after all, there’s still plenty to savour in this puzzle!
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
Ray T must have taken pity on us this week because this puzzle is not as tricky as his usual offerings. The downside is that, amongst the clever and amusing clues, there are several cryptic definitions which are a bit weak. As always we’re keen to hear your views, so let us have a comment.
The answers are hidden between the curly brackets under the relevant clue. Just highlight the space between the brackets to reveal.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
A typical Rufus crossword to start the week, nothing too complicated (and I hope contentious). However I do wonder whether the definition in 10a should be plural.
Addendum: I have pondered this and done some checking: n. pl. fruit or fruits, fruit is viable both as a single or plural noun. I stand corrected.
Please feel free to leave a comment.
If you need to see the answer directly just highlight the space between the curly brackets.
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This afternoon I will be in the White Horse, Parson’s Green until about 7:00pm. All are welcome, and you could meet up with some of your favourite setters and bloggers.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them.
Don’t forget that you can give your assessment of the puzzle. Five stars if you thought it was great, one if you hated it, four, three or two if it was somewhere in between.
A full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 8th July.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
The sight of all those 1ac references in (mostly) the down clues made me concentrate on that clue first. I couldn’t see the answer immediately but the enumeration was helpful, so I moved on to the first reference at 11a, trying to find 9-letter anagrams including the letters of BRISTOL. Of those I found, one seemed very likely as fitting a theme (it also matched the wordplay) and that made 1a much easier. Identifying the theme was by no means a guarantee of an easy ride and there were quite a few tough clues to crack, but the first run-through elicited 14 answers and the only real headaches beyond that were awkwardly spelt (or, for me, unknown) members of the theme set.
This was good entertainment as ever from Elgar, perhaps without the usual degree of naughtiness and LOL moments, but the enjoyment factor was kept aloft by a number of witty definitions and wordplay indicators. My favourite clues are highlighted in blue.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
[Today I am trying out a new idea – if you hover over a clue the background changes to grey and you should be able to see the answer. Let me know what you think – particularly if you are using an iPhone or similar. BD]
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
We have a typical Giovanni today with a good mixture of clues. It took me longer to solve than an average Giovanni, but looking back on it, I couldn’t really see why because, as always, his clues are very fair. Let us know what you thought of it in a comment.
For those who are still baffled after reading the hints, the answers are concealed between the brackets under the clues. Highlight the white space between the brackets to reveal.
[Today I am trying out a new idea – if you hover over a clue the background changes to grey and you should be able to see the answer. Let me know what you think – particularly if you are using an iPhone or similar. BD]
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
For the second week running I get a pleasant, non-controversial puzzle. This pangrammatic puzzle is very good. There was nothing I needed to check in the dictionary and I could understand all the wordplay without difficulty. I’m beginning to look forward to my next “stinker” when I’ll be able to have a good moan.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.