Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
A very gentle puzzle that, I thought, shouldn’t cause any problems. If you know differently then let me know.
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 ****
We have a thoroughly entertaining and laugh-provoking Toughie from Petitjean today. It contains some brilliantly-constructed clues with good surface readings. It also has several clues based on Cockney and rapper-speak (one of which I can’t explain fully).
Let us know whether you enjoyed it as much as I did, and please don’t forget to click on one of the stars below to indicate how you rate it.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Jay. I particularly liked 12 across.
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 ***
A entertaining, if straightforward, puzzle from Campbell. A certain amount of General Knowledge is required, but most of this will be familiar to regular solvers.
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 ****
We have a pleasurable 5d from Shamus today with only two anagrams (that’s a plus point for me and earns it an extra enjoyment star!). I can’t remember a Telegraph puzzle with fewer than this. As always we’re very keen to hear your views, so please keep the comments coming.
If you can’t get an answer even with the hint, drag your cursor through the space between the curly brackets under the clue and it should reveal itself.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **– Enjoyment ***
Another very enjoyable Monday morning ramble through a Rufus crossword. How many of you were left with 18a and 19a as the last clues to go in?
If you want to see the answers directly, just highlight the space between the curly brackets. All comments appreciated.
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A few hints to get you started.
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.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. Gnomethang’s full review of this puzzle will be published on Thursday, 22nd May.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Well, this was a struggle – but an immensely satisfying one. I don’t expect total agreement with my star ratings, but it seems likely that many of you will call it either 4/5 or 5/4. The difficulty came from clever clueing rather than obscurity – in fact there was only one bit (a wordplay component) I needed to look up.
It took a long time to get going, with only four answers placed on my first run through, but in the end, when I looked back on it, my very slow solve was down to absolutely fair deception from the setter. There aren’t really any LOL moments but plenty of “Oh, you clever bugger”. There was some extra help when I noticed the likelihood of four symmetrically placed girls’ names and I wondered if the grid contained any further thematic material, but I haven’t spotted anything so far. Another thing I noticed was a generous smattering of modern phrases and colloquialisms which certainly helped to give the puzzle an air of freshness and originality.
Favourite clues are in blue.
Please leave a comment with your thoughts on the puzzle. 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 ***
We have a typical Giovanni today, a good mixture of clues but nothing too exciting. Let us know your views in a comment.
For new readers, the answers are hidden between the curly brackets under the relevant clues. Just drag your cursor through the space between the brackets to reveal the solution.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I had a few pints with Big Dave at the White Horse on Saturday and foolishly offered to do a bit of blogging for him. So here’s the result.
I must admit to not being too familiar with the Toughie crossword so I didn’t know what to expect. I was disappointed with it because I found it somewhat on the easy side. But it was a pleasant enough solve with only one or two things that I had to check.
[My subheading refers to the fact that Busman’s last Toughie was published on 25th March. BD]
Continue reading “Toughie 353”