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 ***
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword to be about the same level of difficulty as the previous two days’ puzzles, with plenty to admire and appreciate. I particularly liked 11a, 2d and 12d, but my clue of the day is 4d, as it mentions the lead singer in one of my favourite bands. I also enjoyed the Quickie pun, once the penny dropped. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 230 by Silvanus
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 21st of June 2026
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This puzzle was published on 21st June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A truly superb puzzle from Dada this Sunday that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3374 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3713 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings! We have a high-quality offering today from Hudson, to whom many thanks. Perfectly pitched for a Tuesday, I feel, with a good few needing a bit of careful consideration and some less-than-common vocabulary, but nothing too tricky, although 1a had me digging around a bit. The clues are all scrupulously fair and there are many great surfaces. 1a, 3d, 5d, 9a, 14d and 19d were my particular favourites.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***/****
The sun is just bursting through here in Harpenden but it’s mercifully cooler so it looks like a more comfortable week ahead before returning to a sauna again next week.
Having commented late yesterday that today’s puzzle was unlikely to be as tricky as yesterday’s above average difficulty puzzle it turned out (for me at least) that it was so I’m giving it an extra *. A straightforward grid fill but I found one or two bits of the wordplay required a bit of thinking about & I was embarrassingly slow to twig the definition context at 19a. As ever nicely & concisely clued from AP & very enjoyable.
I see Hudson is over in t’other place so that’s bound to be a cracker to look forward to later. Tuesday Toughies are generally very accessible & well worth having a stab at even if you never stray beyond the shallow end of the pool. Whybird is one lifeguard duty & will be on hand if you get into any difficulty.
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. Lovely to see you all for this Monday crossword.… Continue reading
Sunday Toughie No 231
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After Thursday I was hoping, but we haven’t seen a Robyn here in Sunday Toughie land since #175, 1st June 2025, over a year ago; however, Beam is a more than adequate replacement. The daunting castellated grid (nice description, ALP) soon filled itself as I watched a slightly laboured performance of England last night. I was able to turn in before Keane and Neville had their say.
14a and 14d clues and I have hinted half. Beam trademarks are there, under six words per single word solutions, no anagrams, Queens, sweethearts, and initialisms, although we have been spared a trip to the lingerie department today.
I can’t hint them all, but will try and give a nudge if you ask
Here we go, Folks…
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Gemini wasn’t very helpful – basically, rewrote the preamble as a structured list (it loves organising information but isn’t it supposed to make it useful as well?). … Continue reading