Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
This puzzle was a very pleasant Thursday surprise for me, with many clever and amusing clues. I enjoyed it a lot.
Continue reading “DT 25964”
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As usual with Home screen problems, this one only lasted for the day and the following day’s Home screen was OK.
Libellule reports that you can’t get the printable versions of the Quick or Daily Cryptic crosswords from the Home screen.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
We’re having an easy week (so far) with the Toughies. This one is not quite as easy as yesterday’s but is still pretty straightforward, and it offers some entertaining clues.
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets – select the white space if you want to reveal them.
Continue reading “Toughie 169”
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
A pleasant puzzle that didn’t overly exercise the brain cells. Continue reading “DT 25963”
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
When I saw that Warbler was today’s setter I looked forward to a difficult puzzle. What I got was one that was, to me, easier than most of the regular daily cryptics. Just as Gazza vacillated between 3 and 4 stars for today’s cryptic (I had that as a 2 star!) I rounded this one up to 2 stars. Let me know what you think.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another Tuesday and another fine puzzle, full of well crafted clues. After last week’s debate on how difficult the puzzle was I’ll be interested to see how people react to this one – I vacillated between three and four stars but eventually plumped for three.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
I am sorry to have to tell you that Tilsit is back in hospital, so I’ve had to do this in a bit of a rush. Very much a typical start to the week from out “Monday Maestro”, but just about into three-star difficulty.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Our Saturday setter shows what can be done, with the best prize puzzle for quite a while. Put the atlas away, and those books of baby names, all you need this week is to sip on a cocktail.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, I will select a few of the better clues and provide hints for them. Peter Biddlecombe’s full review of this puzzle will be published at 12.00 on Thursday, 25th June.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment **
My dislike of puzzles from this setter is well-known, so I will let you decide for yourself. I wonder if visitors to the Excalibur household are asked “Tea, a cup of, would like you?”.
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Not as complicated today, although the grid was a bit “cornery”, there are some nice “gimme” clues available in all corners to get you started. For example 2d, 7d, 24a, and 12d. Mind you it still deserves three stars because after that you still have to tease out the other answers.