Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31311
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** Enjoyment ****
This is the trickiest puzzle of the week so far which is just right for a Thursday and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to today’s setter.
Continue reading “DT 31311”
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
An excellent mid-week Toughie
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword fairly challenging for a Wednesday. A reasonable amount of general knowledge is needed: there are several artistic and literary references, and some familiarity with Indian nobility is useful. My favourite clues today are the Spoonerism in 1d and the hapless prince in 26a. Many thanks to our setter.
Toughie No 3733 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Whybird is off on his holidays so I’m standing in today.
Beam is obviously the flavour of the month at Telegraph Towers – this is his second Toughie in three days. All his trademarks are present today in a gentle and enjoyable puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3733”
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ****
Mercifully cooler today so it promises to be a lot more comfortable on the golf course this afternoon.
I found today’s Anthony Plumb offering a good bit easier than last week & about on a par with Heron’s puzzle yesterday in terms of difficulty. As ever nicely clued throughout with some excellent surfaces. Any corrections to the hints (if current form is anything to go by there’s bound to be at least one) will have to wait until later.
There’s a quick reappearance from Ray T over in t’other place with a very enjoyable & fairly gentle(ish) Beamer that’s begging to be walloped to the boundary ropes. I’m sure both he & Whybird would welcome your thoughts on it.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Sunday Toughie No 236
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Beam has brought all his trademarks today, with a generous 16a and 16d clues today. I have hinted at half, but will try and give a nudge if asked.
Mama Bee wants to go shopping, so I may have to work around her needs.
Here we go, Folks…
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, from late on Wednesday to quite early on Thursday, we had a doozy (N American informal) of a thunderstorm or so I am told as I was safe in the arms of Morpheus throughout the whole thing! But, I do know that we ‘lost’ power, as a result of the storm, for approximately 7 hours from 11;30 pm on Wednesday to 6:30 am on Thursday – I thought that my first coffee of the day was at risk!
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly with four long ‘uns (only one of them an anagram), only three anagrams (one partial), two lurkers, and one homophone, all in a symmetric 32 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!
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!
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Toughie No 3732 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
A typical Osmosis puzzle with tricky wordplay and well-disguised definitions throughout. Many thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3732”
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31306"