Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
‘Tis always a (rare-ish) treat to see Silvanus pop up on a Thursday – elegant as ever and nowt too tricky, with a very faint French flavour. 22d was new to me but it’s generously clued and I had to run through a few comedians to crack 12a. Still, the deletion and definition couldn’t be clearer. Even 7d’s botany (my bête noire) is gifted on a plate. So, not tremendously tough, just tremendously entertaining. À vous la parole!
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BD Rating – Difficulty 2* – Enjoyment 5*
A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg where, like most of Southern England (I believe), it ain’t half hot mum – 34 degrees, feels like 43! Although, I was watching TV coverage of the Commonwealth Games from Glasgow on Wednesday and there seemed to more water in the Athletics Stadium than there was in the Swimming Pool!
For me, and I stress for me© (I have to say that for Terence), for the first time in quite a while we have a Dream Team Thursday! Silvanus on Toughie duty and there is no doubt that this is the work of the Master of Brevity; but, he has dialled it back a bit compared to last week. The usual one word clues and answers in the Quickie, and an appearance from the Queen, Ray T’s swEetheart, but not the plain sweetheart, in the back pager. Also, like Dada, Ray T still seems to be making occasional use of a personal thesaurus. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
A proper Toughie, which is what we have come to expect from Zenas
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword easier than yesterday’s, although I didn’t know the alternative meaning of ‘dainty’ in 11a or the philosopher in 24a. Amongst my favourite clues were 18a, 29a and 3d, but tying for first place today are the remorseful car thief in 27a and the itinerant naturist in 25d. There is also an absolutely cracking Quickie pun. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 234 by Light
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on 19th July 2026 Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 234 (Review)”
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This puzzle was published on 19th July 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has given us a really enjoyable solve this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle. Hope to have your valuable feedback and comments.
Toughie No 3729 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to another Toughie Week.
For once I managed to Guess the Setter, so started with a win, and the North went in fairly rapidly. However, Chalicea has thrown a couple of curve balls today that had me scrabbling around to check both existence and meaning, and I also came up with what I thought was a reasonable answer for 27a which, being incorrect, made the SW trickier. I particularly liked 1a, 4d, 6a, 13a 28a and 30a but I’m giving my Gold Medal position to 16d.
Thank you, Chalicea, for an enjoyable start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
I am taking a brief sabbatical for the next couple of weeks in an attempt to catch up with some “glorified seagulls”. Next week, you will have Gazza and the following week ALP, so thanks to both for filing in.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***/****
I found today’s Anthony Plumb offering maybe a tad trickier than yesterday’s puzzle chiefly because the definition context at 1&23d needed a bit of a crumpet scratch. As ever it was very enjoyable, nicely clued throughout & with some neat surfaces. I look forward to hearing what others make of it. I’m off to play ⛳️ so hopefully (no promises) no amendments need to be made to the hints below.
I see Chalicea is over in t’other place so that is guaranteed to be an enjoyable puzzle & well worth having a stab at. Whybird will be delighted to hear 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.
Hello. It was lovely to meet some of you in Birmingham on Saturday. Thank you to everybody who came, and especially those who bought me drinks that I didn’t manage to reciprocate. And commiserations to those who’d hoped to be there but couldn’t make it.
Here’s a character I found lazing around at New Street station, presumably tired out from celebrating their 75th birthday. Please see my album of photos from the day for who else was there.
