The Stickler Weekly 55 Solution

I’ve talked a number of times about the difficulty of a crossword, and how each part – the grid design, word choice and clues – contributes to the overall difficulty of the end result. It’s important to realise that a setter has total control over all these areas, so if a clue or crossword is generally difficult to solve, it’s because the setter wants it that way. Some words may provide only a few clueing options, none of them easy to unravel, but normally there’s an easyish option, and of course, the setter could rejig the grid to eliminate any troublesome words if they wanted to. It all depends on the objective of the setter and their attitude towards their solvers – it’s not hard to make a crossword that only a few can solve without aids – but what’s the point?
That’s not to say that a crossword doesn’t generally end up easier or harder than intended as clue assessment by a setter isn’t always right, as I’ve mentioned in previous cryptic comments. You can see how I view each clue by the clue help supplied – if there’s anything more than the type of clue, then I think extra help may be needed; if there’s nothing at all then I think it’s pretty straightforward. Many times solvers have requested clue help beyond what I’ve supplied, indicating that I’m not always on the mark.