Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Back in the Friday slot, because Gazza is taking a day off and what do we have? Not an overly difficult puzzle today, but a little tricky in places. But otherwise perfectly enjoyable entertainment.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment: **
Tilsit has been unable to do this review, but will be in this slot next week.
Just a few weaker clues in this prize puzzle, but it wouldn’t be Saturday without a boy or a girl – this week it’s a girl!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
A lovely Toughie today, worthy of the title and set by one of my favourite setters Messinae. A nice feeling came over me when I entered the last answer, and I was able to look back on a good fight with the compiler.
As usual, feel free to add your comments afterwards, and don’t forget to add a star rating as well.
Couple of grumbles with the website clues in the Java version. No link between 1a and 10a at 1 across and an apostrophe missed off 8 down, which made the clue look wrong.
Off we go!
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Because I’m away tomorrow, Libellule has kindly agreed to swap reviews and he will be doing tomorrow’s. The one he’s missed out on today is pretty straightforward with well-crafted clues but nothing to make you break out in peals of laughter.
As usual the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets so that you cannot see them accidentally – just select the white space between the brackets if you want to reveal one.
As always we’d love to get comments from you.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I reckon that even Sherlock Holmes would have been stretched by some of the wordplay in this one, but you do get a sense of satisfaction from unravelling some of these clues. Along the way I seem to have mislaid a couple of anagram indicators – if you can find them please let me know!
We’d love to get a comment from you about the puzzle, the review or even the weather (lovely in the South-West today!). Also, please click on one of the five stars at the bottom of the review to record your assessment of the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from the Peoples’ Republic of Hebden Bridge, and before I start, a quick word of thanks to Gazza for covering last Thursday’s Toughie for me at short notice. I must confess to feeling somewhat drained as I have managed to do the Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Times puzzles today. I figured that one or two might have something special going on (09/09/09), and was right. Today’s Telegraph wasn’t one of them, but then I wasn’t expecting it to be.
I wrote last week about clues hitting the target, but not the bullseye or gold and today’s puzzle is like that. The surface reading of some clues is off the mark, and others just seem inaccurate (What is a carbon-free decree?) Should we expect our clues to make sense, or are we spoilt when some setters spend their time achieving accuracy in their surface readings? As an aspiring compiler, I spend a lot of my time trying to write clues that read well and make sense both literally and factually. The fact that many of my attempts end up in the waste or recycle bin because they don’t must say something.
I found today’s DT puzzle to be reasonable, nothing more or less. There was nothing in there that really troubled me and I would be terribly surprised if most of the regulars felt differently. What I did miss was anything to make me smile and I did find that in abundance in the other three daily puzzles I solved. I did deliberately make sure this was the first one I solved today, but it just seemed rather humdrum, I’m afraid.
As usual, I’d love to see your thoughts, and you can leave them after the blog. Newer visitors should note that the clue answers are hidden between the curly brackets, and you need to highlight between the brackets with your mouse to view them. New message posters should note that your first post also takes a little while to appear, as they are moderated for spammers.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Only a handful of tricky clues separate this Toughie from a regular daily cryptic. I haven’t been out to get a paper today, so don’t know who the setter is yet.
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 ***
This one is pretty straightforward and would make an ideal introduction for new solvers. For those who found that it did not really stretch them, if you have never attempted the Toughie then why not give it a go?
As always the answers are hidden inside the curly brackets; to reveal an answer just highlight the white space inside.
We’d love to get a comment from you with your views or queries about the puzzle or the review. So, those of you who regularly read the reviews but have never left a comment – now’s the time to introduce yourselves!
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Rufus usually gives us a fairly easy start to the week, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that found today’s puzzle to be a little more difficult. The usual excellent cryptic definitions from our Monday Maestro are to be found amongst today’s clues.
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 *****
After a few months of the variable delights of the Saturday puzzle, Dave has given me the privilege of writing about the Sunday puzzle in its new style. What a change! Instead of wondering how much to bang on about the clues that annoy me, I’m now trying to make sure I don’t miss any of the very clever aspects of these clues. It seems to be current DT policy not to name the setter for each day, but if this puzzle wasn’t written by Brian Greer (Brendan and Virgilius elsewhere and a former Times xwd editor, now back on their setting team), it’s by someone who’s learned a lot from Brian and other good setters. This puzzle was relatively tricky for Brian – his scrupulously fair clues mean that I can get through some of his puzzles pretty swiftly. I look forward to something with an extra twist to celebrate ST No. 2500 next week.