Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Sunday Toughie No 238
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Beam with his 24th and 25th Sunday Toughie, has sandwiched Hudson’s first. Lots of Beam trademarks, including no anagrams, so I hope you find the checkers to finish today
A generous 16a and 16d clues, and I have hinted at half. I will try and nudge if any tricky clues haven’t survived the cutting room
Here we go, Folks…
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This week I gave Claude the chance to impress.
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, after a ‘Soggy Saturday’, I am hoping for a ‘Sunny Sunday’ as I will be attending an outdoor memorial for the 81st anniversary of VJ Day.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly, with seven anagrams (four partials), no lurkers, three(!) homophones, and one that, at first look, you might think is a homophone but isn’t all in a not much value for the money symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Sunday Toughie No 236 by Beam
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 02/08/26
Across Clues
1a Friendly, therefore guy protects single (8)
SOCIABLE: an adverb meaning therefore and the sort of guy used to hold up a tent contain the Roman single. Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 236 (full review)”
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This puzzle was published on 2nd August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A really entertaining puzzle from Dada this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3380 (Full Review)”
Sunday Toughie No 237
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It is always a delight when a new Sunday Toughie setter appears, especially so when it is from Hudson who has 83 normal toughies and many more anonymous backpagers to his name.
That this was a pangram certainly helped with 7d, I bunged the missing letters in and parsed this later.
We have 15a and 15d clues today and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to cross the line, but will try and give a nudge if asked.
Here we go, Folks…
Enigmatic Variations 1759 (Hints)
CHORUS LINE by GASTON
Hints and tips by Gabriel / Jpeg
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The theme of Gaston’s puzzle makes us think of Broadway, but that is not one of our strong suits.… Continue reading
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, across the country, wildfire season continues with investigators attempting to determine if the cause of a fire was natural, accidental, or criminal; sadly there is a significant number of the latter.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quite quirky and not so friendly, using his personal thesaurus in places, with a somewhat strange looking grid which required some lateral thinking; one long ‘un, eight anagrams (four partials), two lurkers, and no homophones, all in an asymmetric 31 clues; with 16 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, all BRB verified where necessary, you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand! You might even need your favourite e-search ‘assistant’!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Sunday Toughie No 235 by Silvanus
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 26th of July 2026
As this is my last review blog, and the hints blog was rather brief, I have gone a bit overboard today. I will continue hinting on Sundays, but Gazza will be reviewing the Sunday Toughie going forward
I hope I have not made the mistake of not checking the fodder for anagrams and apologise to Light for that error last week.
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This puzzle was published on 26th July 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A truly entertaining puzzle from Dada this Sunday that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3379 (Full Review)”