Toughie No 3470 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment *****
And the award for the most words on one sheet of paper goes to … Leo Tolstoy*… sorry, I mean Prime!
Month: April 2025
DT 30914
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30914
Hints and tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where some are celebrating the events of two days ago and some are not, especially the two major party leaders who lost their seats!
For me, etc (I have to say that for Terence), a reasonably straightforward and entertaining midweek puzzle which I am suggesting, with the absence of the Reverend W A Spooner, is the work of Hudson. Whomsoever it is, thank you.
Sunday Toughie 169 (Review)
Sunday Toughie No 169 by Light
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 20th of April 2025
I now know who Light is, not through any spectacular sleuthing on my part or Gemini/AI investigations, but Light has put the alias in his Twitter/BlueSky profile. Although he is well known to all of Big Dave, I will leave it up to Light to disclose his identity here. He is a welcome addition to the roster of Sunday Toughie setters.
ST 3313 (full review)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3313
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 20th April 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, straightforward 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 3313 (full review)”
Toughie 3469
Toughie No 3469 by Dada
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Dada’s back again with a largely straightforward puzzle – just a couple of scratchy synonyms (17a) and one leap of faith (20a) kept me on my toes.… Continue reading
DT 30913
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30913
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
I am standing in for Huntsman today as he is about to 1d in Portugal, provided that his flight was able to land given the power problems in both Spain and Portugal at the moment. Anyway, who needs Portugal when you have weather like this in the UK. Hard to believe that it is still only April (just!).
I found this to be considerably easier than yesterday’s offering. In fact, if you were to choose a puzzle to teach beginners how to solve cryptic puzzles, this one would be ideal. All scrupulously fair and clearly indicated. I will almost feel guilty when I take my pint off Huntsman for stepping in for him!
I am not convinced about the Quickie Pun, not having much use for such products, if indeed I am correct.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle. Please also try to be positive – it’s only a bit of fun.
Many thanks to our setter and the DT Crossword Team.
DT 30912
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30912
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa, where spring has finally arrived heralded by the budding flowers and the arrival of hockey playoff season. On Saturday, I watched two thrilling matches. In the afternoon, our professional women’s team, the Ottawa Charge, who are fighting to make the PWHL playoffs, were assessed a penalty in the final moments of a tie game against Montreal. However, despite this obstacle, the team miraculously scored a short-handed goal with 13 seconds remaining to win the game. That evening, our professional men’s team, the Ottawa Senators, down three games to nil in their first round Stanley Cup Playoff series against Toronto, scored in the eighteenth minute of overtime to stave off elimination. The sport doesn’t get any better than that.
Although X-Type told us last week he would see us “soon-ish”, it seems that this week may be too soon as the puzzle would appear to be the work of the unknown double punner who has graced this spot several times. Might there be a new Monday rotation alternating between these two setters. If so, it would be a fine pairing.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Rookie Corner 575
Sunday Toughie 170 (Hints)
Sunday Toughie No 170
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I found this rather tough last night, but looking at it this morning, it all appears to be fairly clued. A Spoonerism to start and a couple of compound anagrams indicate this is proXimal. A wide field of general knowledge, from Taylor Swift and actors and actresses to ancient civilisations, tombs and geology is required. The renegade priest was new to me, but with checkers, a relatively easy anagram
We have 14a and 14d clues today and I have hinted half(ish) I may be able to give a bonus nudge if you are in need.
Your submission for the “Mythical 🖊️” is more likely to be successful, as for the 2nd day running a typo in one of the little 4 letter answers will send my entry to the bin
Here we go, Folks…
EV 1692 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1692 (Hints)
Anonymous by Ifor
Hints and tips by Phibs
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This week I thought I’d do a search on Dave Hennings’ excellent database of themed crosswords (xwdb.info) to locate earlier puzzles that had a connection with the word ‘anonymous’.