January 15, 2026 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Toughie 3619

Toughie No 3619 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Parsing 28a ***** Enjoyment ***

Fairly straightforward Lego from Kcit today, bar one spot of parsing (28a). I had to dredge up some A-level vocab for 1a and 6d’s “amount of work” but the definitions largely jumped out. All told, a pretty brisk solve. Pondering over the mechanics of 28a easily took as long (for me, anyroad) as the entire puzzle! All yours.

Continue reading “Toughie 3619”

DT 31137

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31137

Hints and Tips by Senf

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****

A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg.  No doubt that the Master of Brevity is today’s setter, but not the first leg of a Dream Team Thursday, Kcit is on Toughie duty, just a sprinkling of the usual indicators between this puzzle and the Quickie are in evidence.  I haven’t calculated average words per clue – I am assuming it is 5 ± a decimal point or two.

For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), an enjoyable puzzle which caused several pauses for thought for solving and parsing.  I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!

Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!

Continue reading “DT 31137”