A Puzzle by Maitresse
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Month: June 2025
Sunday Toughie 178 (Hints)
Sunday Toughie No 178
by Zandio
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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A great Toughie from Zandio today, I managed to see it at about 11:30 last night and it didn’t take me much past midnight to fill the grid. Parsing it this morning took longer. The Spoonerism and nod to our new Tuesday Toughie blogger is probably my favourite today, but plenty of podium candidates.
I don’t think it is sufficient to call a theme but a couple of military units hit the cutting room floor, and another sneaks into 28a. I will try and nudge unhinted clues, if you identify some or all of the picture for 28a
We have 14a and 16d clues today and I have hinted half.
EV 1700 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1700 (Hints)
One Hundred with Seven Inside by proXimal
Hints and tips by Phibs
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A milestone for the EV is marked by a celebratory puzzle from our esteemed editor. I asked Claude, “A puzzle relating to 1700 is cryptically entitled ‘One hundred with seven inside’. Why might that be?”
ST 3322 (Hints)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3322 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where it was approximately 10 degrees cooler on my Saturday evening compared to 24 hours earlier, when I was struggling a little with the SPP, giving ideal conditions for solving and hinting half of a Dada puzzle.
For me, and I stress for me©, and I hope I don’t upset or annoy anyone, perhaps some will agree with me, the friendliest Dada has ever been for all of the 343 of his Sunday puzzles I have blogged, I suppose one could ask if it is a Dada puzzle at all – eight anagrams (two partials), two lurkers both reversed, and two homophones all in an asymmetric 30 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid, you should be able to get the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. And, remember, my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
Candidates for favourite – 1a, 13a, 27a, 3d, 8d, and 18d.
As is usual for the weekend prize crosswords, a number of the more difficult clues have been selected and hints provided for them.
NTSPP 802
DT 30959 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30959 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by crypticsue)
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Toughie 3500
Toughie No 3500 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
Osmosis has brought his usual bag of tricks to this puzzle which I really enjoyed working through. He’s given us almost (but not quite) a pangram, a pleasing lack of anagrams and pairs of the more unusual letters juxtaposed in the centre of the grid.
Continue reading “Toughie 3500”
DT 30958
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30958
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment *****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I thought this puzzle was just brilliant, with the laugh out loud PDM produced by 14d bumping the enjoyment score up to a rare five stars. Thank you, setter! I’m afraid that work commitments meant a another late start to producing hints, and so sadly I had no time to search for suitable pictures. I hope that the commentariat will provide a few. Continue reading "DT 30958"
DT 30953 (Full Review)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30953
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 14th June 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A lovely, elegant Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and important feedback. Continue reading “DT 30953 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3499
Toughie No 3499 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
A Django’s always a treat and this was no exception.… Continue reading