Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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You have reached the world’s biggest and best crossword blog. If you are looking for help with the Daily and Sunday Telegraph cryptic crosswords or the Enigmatic Variations advanced cryptic, a total of 13 puzzles a week, then you have come to the right place.
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
I read all the clues; I wrote in the solution to 25d and then I stared at the rest of the clues for what seemed like ages before slowly and surely the grid began to fill. Although this was a proper Elgar Toughie, it wasn’t as difficult as I first thought it might be
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31372"
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This puzzle was published on 10th October 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, interesting Saturday puzzle from Chris Lancaster that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31367 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Typically elegant, albeit über-gentle for a Thursday Django. Not that I’m complaining as I have about a million way trickier fish to fry today! I enjoyed it. Over to you.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31371
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
A very enjoyable puzzle with a theme based on the members of the 27a rock band. Many thanks to our setter.
Continue reading “DT 31371”
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Weatherman set us a nice ‘start of the week’ Toughie with the possibility of learning some new words along the way
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle to be the most challenging of the week so far – an excellent Wednesday workout. There are some very clever clue constructions: I especially liked 9a, once I’d worked out what was going on, and I thought 7d was ingenious. 25a might divide opinion, as it requires some cricketing general knowledge, but it makes it onto my podium as well. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 245 by proXimal
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 04/10/26
proXimal has provided a very enjoyable Toughie this week.
Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 245 (full review)”
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This puzzle was published on 4th October 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, straightforward Sunday puzzle of Dada that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and important feedback. Continue reading “ST 3389 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3773 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to another Toughie Week. Thanks to Gazza for filling in last week whilst I was toiling away in the Santa Clara area: Anna’s Hummingbird, Least and Elegant terns, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, White Pelican and Northern Harrier were amongst the incidental avian highlights.
We have an excellent puzzle from Shabbo today (and a rare example of being right with my morning “guess the setter” game). There’s nothing too difficult, but the puzzle is very well crafted with generally concise but smooth-surfaced clues. 17a, 20d, 24a and 27a (lovely word) all stood out for me, but my absolute favourite today was the wonderful 1d – perfect on all fronts. Thanks to Shabbo for another cracker!
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.