Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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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.
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)”
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.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where our mid-summer long weekend has proven to be, for the most part, a cloudy and rainy affair. This follows on the heels of July which, if I recall correctly, has been reported to be the second wettest on record. However, this paints a bit of a misleading impression of the month as most of the rain fell in the span of about 3 hours on a single day (July 1).
Today’s puzzle should serve as a gentle mental warmup to get the little grey cells prepared for the more challenging workouts likely to ensue as the week progresses. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the puzzle may be the handiwork of Heron. Be aware though, that my track record at identifying setters is dismal, at best.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
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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I gave Claude the entire text of the preamble and asked him, “Do you have any idea what the theme might be?”