Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Prime has set us a Toughie which I thought was just right for a Wednesday apart from the age it took me to parse 1d which added an extra star to the difficulty rating
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword to be a step up in difficulty from the last two days. I thought it was a cracking puzzle, with plenty of wit and misdirection. Amongst my favourite clues today were 11a, 26a and 9d, but first place goes to 19d, for making me laugh out loud when the penny dropped. Many thanks to our setter.
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This puzzle was published on 7th June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has given us a very delightful solve this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle. Hope to have your valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3372 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3705 by Gila
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to the Toughie Week! This is a rare Toughie appearance for Gila and is certainly the first chance I’ve had to Blog one of his puzzles and that always increases the nervousness, but I needn’t have worried. The two long anagrams at 1a and 1d made for a rapid start, and I was thinking about a fractional difficulty rating. Then I got bogged down on 19a and 20d, which took me longer than the rest of the puzzle, although neither clue was objectively all that tricky. Prizes go to 5d, 10d (I can never remember the spelling – now I won’t forget) and the aforesaid 20d, with 21d pinching the top spot by a nose.
The clues are all well put together, so no concerns on that score, but my minor local difficulty in the SE notwithstanding, for me, this would have sat better on the back page. This blurring of the between inside and back page difficulties seems to be a frequent occurrence recently and is something I think the Puzzles Team should address. But remind me I said that when a full-on four- or five-star puzzle lands on my watch on a quiet Tuesday morning.
Thanks to Gila for a pleasant start to a sunny Tuesday.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***/****
After a dreary start to the morning the sun is out here in Harpenden & we look set for a lovely day which will help to compensate for the likely disappointment of another inept performance on the golf course this afternoon.
I’d judge today’s puzzle pretty Quiptic even by Tuesday standards so it will no doubt be welcomed by those bemoaning yesterday’s offering having been decidedly trickier than Mondays of late. As ever nicely & concisely clued throughout with some neat surfaces. Thanks to (I assume) Anthony Plumb.
For any seeking a further challenge Gila over in t’other place is in no way venomous & well having a stab at. Whybird will I’m sure be delighted to hear your thoughts.
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.
Hello. First some good news. Well, old news, this being from March, but I only
spotted it recently and I’m guessing some others here also hadn’t heard it.… Continue reading
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A bit of a slow start, but once some checkers came, I picked up the pace. As it is a Prize Puzzle I am unable to hint them all, but I will try and give a nudge if I can.
Here We Go…
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where, after violent storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, it has cooled down considerably to the point that I have considered retrieving The Red Scarf from Summer storage!
For me, and I stress for me,© thankfully Dada quite friendly with quirkiness here and there. After zero anagrams last week he has included four (three partials) this week, but no lurkers or homophones, all in an economically symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid 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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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****