3D Crossword Solution – March 2025

Clues by Boatman and Grid by Bozzy

Theme: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, born March 1475

Winner: Robin Stephenson of London

Review of the March 2025 3D crossword

A larger grid this month, at 7 x 7 x 5, gives us many more lights than we need but also leaves room for longer words. Additionally, there are some shaded squares that we are cautioned are not included in the wordplay of any checking answer. I don’t know about you, but I usually take a pass at the clues without looking at the diagram, so I had to change my evil ways for this one.

The long and winding answer of 18 gives us our theme MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, Italian artist and architect. Containing the letters of both “marble” and “colour” helped the cluing on that one!

Similarly, SISTINE CHAPEL and VITTORIA COLONNA are anagrammed at 28 and 3. Though they manage to avoid all the shaded squares so the solutions are a little more straightforward.

But the device of eliding the highlighted letters does lead to some nice cluing. I especially like 6 and 30 for their extremely smooth surfaces. 27 manages to make a nice anagram that would be less so if they’d had to clue all the letters.

The overall vocabulary is good (a little crosswordese in there, but we are doing a crossword), and none of the clues raised any red flags for me.

I did like the imagery in 9 of a gladiator knocking out the lad with one GATOR. I also got a chuckle out of 16 as the lathes, sadly, offer no love in return.

The visual clue tells us to take IS from HAGGIS and add ADA instead to get HAGGADA. While I much prefer the beautiful regular clue at 10, between the two, most solvers should be able to get what could be a difficult word.

The shaded letters spell out our Easter eggs: DAVID and MADONNA. These along with other biblical and religious figures in the answers are hallmarks of our subject’s work.

With longer words, and even longer snaking ones, strong cluing, an interesting gimmick, and a strong theme, this puzzle is a master-class for an Old Master.

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Grid solution

Visual clue

A famous Scottish dish from which we are to delete the letters IS plus Ada Lovelace give:

HAGG(is) + ADA = HAGGADA

Background image

The backdrop to this month’s puzzle is “Marble Hand” by Dewang Gupta (CC0 1.0 licence).

Clues and explanations

Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.

Solvers’ comments

Enjoyable puzzle. Interesting additional challenge of the ignored letters in the wordplay! [JP]

Another enjoyable puzzle for 2025. Some nice clueing, a couple of new words and an excellent theme well woven through the clues. At the risk of commentator’s curse, it’s been a good 3D year so far :-))) [CW]

A work of art [RP]

Sistene chapel was the first answer and that suggested the painter [RC]

Thank you again for a good theme and lots of fun. [HH]

Initially I thought the subject might be a monarch. Nothing too tricky, though 2, 6, 7 are new words for me and I had to look up 37. 3 can have A or E in the centre. 5 does this have a definition? You mean 550th anniversary. Year is inherent. “Whenever it appears” I initially took to mean anywhere in the grid, not just in the relevant clues. That would have made life more difficult. “Where these letters … a particular solution….” better? [MJ]

If I hadn’t kept forgetting about those cheeky yellow squares, this might have gone a little more smoothly for me! I will openly admit to needing a LOT of help with some of these answers, both thematic and otherwise — just pleased to have finished 💪🏼 ASSAGAI, ASTILBE, BOMBORA, CULCH… it might be quicker to list the words I *did* know?! 🙈 Still loved every minute of it. [MS]

Nice 🙂 [JC]

Good theme, well treated, and for once I found the picture clue helpful. NB I have a ‘David’ garden statue! Thanks to Boatman and Bozzy. [RS]

The toughest were days 1, 24 & 25; 17 was as much annoying as hard. [RS]

Lovely puzzle thanks Boatman and Bozzy. Never knew Michelangelo’s second name nor his muse so a good school day or week to solve. [GW]

A beautifully sculpted tribute. [TH]

Very much enjoyed – I certainly learned plenty about the subject and his works. [MH]

Difficult? Yes 🙂 [RE]

Enjoyed it. Liked the subject. Liked the extra challenge of the yellow squares not being in the wordplay. Enjoyed the style of clues. [HM]

I loved the historical, art and religious stories woven through this puzzle. Some very hard words so it was certainly challenging but ultimately satisfying. That being said, fingers crossed all of my solutions are correct. Big thanks to Boatman and Bozzy! [JA]

A work of art! [JT]

Yet another clever introduction to an unfamiliar subject and terms associated with it. [SF]

Lots of fun! A great example of what you can do with the medium: used the gimmick to construct a number of nice clues. [JG]

Fun, Boatman is good. [KPH]

Very informative. I enjoyed the pithy clues, it’s a slight pity that when a long answer is fairly obvious there is little incentive to work out all the workings! Purists like me might wince at days 5 and 36 where the definition is not properly differentiated from the wordplay? The added twist of the yellow letters was a pleasing touch, as was the use of ‘down’ referring to an up clue on day 26. Thanks to all concerned. Well, I’ve got a mistake: if assegai has been marked wrong I think that’s a bit harsh for a homophone clue! [EF]

Brilliant [RL]

The homophone clue at 24aw is unsatisfactory since dictionaries give the 4th letter as either E (the usual spelling) or A. But since with either spelling the pronunciation is exactly the same the clue does not indicate which spelling is intended. [RE]

The recent BBC series, and a trip to Florence last year, helped put me on the right lines, but there’s a whole load of stuff – APPALTI and SELVEDGE for starters – that was new to me. Plus nho day 37. An impressive feat of grid filling, and accessible clues from Boatman too! [PA]

It looked ominous when the easy start was heptads, but then somehow michelangelo leapt out and it was fine thereafter, albeit with some hitherto unknown words to investigate: bombora being the most interesting. [DR]

Some unusual words as solutions but getting the name of the subject early on was a great boost. [JB]

Excellent clueing, very satisfied to be able to derive all the thematic solutions without resorting to Wikipedia! [J&JH]

Enjoyable! [KF]

Enjoyed this immensely, once I had The Subject, it was interesting to explore the solutions. Day 2 I read too much into it and couldn’t get it but was obvious in the end. [SB]

An excellent 3D puzzle, rich in thematic content. I liked very much the device whereby letters missing from what the wordplay produces in twelve of the clues are highlighted in the grid (exactly as in a previous Boatman puzzle, I believe), and that made the solving process interesting and enjoyable. I got the ‘subject’ at Day 18 given seven of its letters, and all the subject’s subjects fell into place, including the two extras. Overall, a model thematic puzzle, I thought. [AB]

Not my favourite theme, so found a lot of it hard going! Was a relief to eventually reach the end!🤗 [MN]

A challenging puzzle which kept me entertained on a long flight, all the harder without access to the internet! [SB]

Good fun [MD]

A fun solve: with foolish errors overlooked when sending in entry! [DM]

Nice to have an artistic theme. [NI]

Not too hard this month. Enjoyable puzzle. [KD]

Some new words to me and had great difficulty parsing day 37. [MM]

Loved learning the word “culch”! [JS]

Great puzzle – really enjoyable challenge. Quite an achievement to get so many references into the grid, and some rather tricky clueing. Thanks to all. [BS]

A beautiful, elegant work of art of a puzzle. It was such a rich solving experience, which yielded itself up very gratifyingly over time. A really nice balance between clues that were gentle yet extremely clever and funny (esp 18 and 28), and answers just on the edge of familiar and unfamiliar. I loved the photo of the marble in the palm of the hand, so simple yet evocative. Thank you, Boatman and Bozzy, for a very enjoyable March! [MS]

I enjoyed this one! [PD]

A masterpiece of a puzzle, to reflect the subject… For once, I was able to solve Frank Paul’s picture, although I guess some people may have been puzzled by the lady with the elaborate coiffure? Ada Lovelace has been rediscovered recently as a great mathematician and scientist who was instrumental in working out the principal of binary coding, the foundation of computer systems. I found out about her when researching the history of my own address (Lovelace Crescent) in Exmouth, where her mother, Lady Byron, lived for a few years. Well worth looking her up! [SB]

Great fun. For once the picture (Ada Lovelace) helped. [JC]

Enlightening [JM]

Really enjoyed this one! [AJ]