Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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Sunday Toughie No 250
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Twm/Light has given me a lot of musical opportunities and I have taken quite a few. I have spoilered quite a lot of them so only click if you want to see the answer.
The acrosses in the NW corner slowed me last night. I am cowed by the recoil from thinking that the seaboard status of Liverpool and a reversal of Oliver Hardy led me to think Portillo was a socialist!
I hope you find the checkers to cross the line too, but as usual I will try and give a nudge if asked.
Here we go, Folks…
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The nicknames given to professional darts players encompass the trivial (‘Chizzy’ for Dave Chisnall and ‘Webby’ for Mark Webster), the distinctly unsubtle (‘Voltage’ for former electrician Rob Cross and ‘The Flying Scotsman’ for Musselburgh’s Gary Anderson, albeit something of an upgrade on his previous moniker, ‘Dreamboy’), and the plain weird (‘Darth Maple’ for Canadian John Part).
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg. Thanks to Huntsman for subbing on Thursday while I was away on an unexpected enjoyable travel event. Slightly shorter than planned otherwise you would be ‘seeing’ Cryptic Sue again today.
For me, and I stress for me,© – lateral thinking required! Three anagrams (one partial), two lurkers (not hinted, so don’t forget the ‘if all else fails look for . . .’), and no homophones, all in a 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!
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Toughie No 3788 by Luxor
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ***
Luxor has given us a proper Friday-level Toughie upping the difficulty since her last outing. I found it daunting on first reading through the clues but I gained a foothold at the bottom and worked my way upwards to complete the grid with several visits to the BRB en route.
Many thanks to Luxor for the enjoyable challenge.
Continue reading “Toughie 3788”
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31390"
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This puzzle was published on 31st October 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A truly fantastic Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “31385 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Cock-a-hoop to see this fresh double act pop up again. How they divvy up the clues without coming to blows I have no idea. My own experience of “collaborative” writing has been nightmarish, but then my first wife was briefly once my editor. Well, that obviously went really well! Maybe they just pull straws? Either way, it clearly works seamlessly. Nowt outlandish here – though I was mildly surprised to find 16d in Chambers – and all pretty smooth. It fairly flew in. The floor, as ever, is yours.
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
A somewhat chilly autumnal morning here in Harpenden with no sign yet of the sun putting in an appearance. Feeling a touch lethargic so I’ll use the excuse of subbing for Senf today as an excuse to do as little as possible this afternoon. The multitude of leaves in the garden will need clearing but that will be the extent of my exertions & may treat myself to fish & chips washed down with a pint (you can take ‘em into the pub next door) as a reward.
Today we have our usual fortnightly offering from Mr Brevity with an appearance of his sweetheart. I thought the puzzle much trickier than his Beam Toughie on Tuesday but maybe I just made harder work of it than the level of difficulty merited. Either way a couple of crumpet scratchers extended the grid fill into 3* time so for me comfortably the most challenging back-pager of the week thus far. As ever very enjoyable & of course superbly clued throughout.
Potoroo is on duty over in t’other place & the puzzle seems pretty accessible (or at least the 75% of it I’ve done so far). ALP is on hand with explanations if required + another selection of tunes.
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.
