Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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Toughie No 3740 by Luxor
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Luxor for an enjoyable and quite tricky Toughie where my progress was steady rather than meteoric.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3740”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today’s enjoyable solve involved recalling several words first learned on Big Dave’s Usual Suspects webpage, along with one or two Google searches. Continue reading "DT 31318"
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This puzzle was published on 8th August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, lovely Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback.
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****
What a difference a day makes, eh? I raced through this. It’s all pretty fair and there’s no exotic vocab as such – I even vaguely remembered 26a. Moreover, the pangram was helpful. Now, I am not a horsey chap and this may well be fanciful overreach, but 1a and then 25d got me thinking. The latter (Sir Henry) trained 13a; and 12a, 20a, 8d & 9d were all racehorses. There may be others but my Google thumb was getting tired. Certainly, if there isn’t/wasn’t one called 11a (though presumably not 25a) I’m Kylie Minogue. But perhaps the heat has just further addled my brain. The floor is, as ever, yours to put me right …
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BD Rating – Difficulty **Â – Enjoyment *****
A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg where we are enjoying seasonal temperatures with highs in the mid-20s.
For me, and I stress for me© (I have to say that for Terence), Kcit on Toughie duty so not a Dream Team Thursday! But, there is no doubt that this is the very entertaining work of the Master of Brevity. 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 ****
I thought this was a properly tough Toughie, for both a Wednesday and a Donnybrook
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BD Rating – Difficulty */**  Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I got off to a flying start with today’s crossword, aided by the linked solutions in the first and last rows, but paused over the grass in 6d and Tracey’s coupling in 12d, although both answers are fairly gettable from the wordplay alone. My favourite clues today are 8a, the aforementioned 12d, and 16d. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 236 by Beam
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 02/08/26
Across Clues
1a Friendly, therefore guy protects single (8)
SOCIABLE: an adverb meaning therefore and the sort of guy used to hold up a tent contain the Roman single. Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 236 (full review)”
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This puzzle was published on 2nd August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A really entertaining puzzle from Dada this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3380 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
It’s always a joy to see Shabbo’s name pop up. He’s clearly got the expected Tuesday non-difficulty level down pat, generously going out of his way to give us a toehold or ten (6d, etc). Ever so gentle, sure, but smoothly entertaining. If you like anagrams, you’re going to love it! The floor, as ever, is yours. PS … dinna fret – Whybird’s back next week!