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 *****
Elgar’s back with his fortnightly attempt to mangle our brains and, while confusing us quite a bit, give us the opportunity to learn several new things along the way
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to an enjoyable Friday puzzle. Continue reading "DT 31336"
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This puzzle was published on 29th August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Breezy, elegant and fair. Nowt outré. Only 18a’s “granny possibly” and 15d’s “right” caused the very briefest of pauses. Karla does like to sign his work and today is no exception – just look for a K down below and meander upwards. Knowing him, he may well have secreted summat else in there but, if so, I didn’t clock it! The floor’s all yours.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31335
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
We have a very enjoyable puzzle today. Many thanks to our setter.
Continue reading “DT 31335”
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
This turned out to be tougher than I expected when I saw the setter’s name (shown correctly in the newspaper but originally on line showing the setter’s real name rather than his pseudonym) I think a fair amount of that can be attributed to working out what was going on in 3d/6a, especially as I hadn’t heard of the 9a 26a. One of those crosswords that was easier to explain then to solve
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle quite challenging – an excellent Wednesday workout. My favourite from a plethora of fine clues is the naked president in 22a. I also enjoyed the Quickie pun. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 239 by proXimal
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 23/08/26
A delightful and fairly gentle puzzle from proXimal this week.… Continue reading
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This puzzle was published on 23rd August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. An excellent, straightforward Sunday prize puzzle from Dada that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of the same for your kind perusal and important feedback. Continue reading “ST 3383 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3749 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
We have an enjoyable start to the Toughie Week with Chalicea being somewhat less benign than usual. I also didn’t help myself by mistakenly opening the Back-pager on the iPad (my dead tree being a little late today) and thinking we had an extreme Floughie, then realising that the clues I had already pasted into the Blog on my PC didn’t match my short-term recall, twigging my stupidity and having to start again. At least by this time, the dead tree had arrived so I was safe in analogue-land. The Present Lady Whybird is considering blocking me from the internet for our mutual safety. It was very interesting to experience the contrast in styles in back-to-back fashion and I felt it made solving Chalicea’s puzzle more difficult.
There are plenty of clues that get honourable mentions, including 1d, 4d, 6a, 7d, 16a and 19d, but I’m giving my top prize today to 3d.
Thanks, Chalicea, for a fun start to the week.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.