January 2026 – Page 3 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 31144

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31144

Hints and tips by Mr K

+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - +

BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday.  Lots of complex wordplay in this puzzle, so I found myself reverse engineering the parsing of several clues. Continue reading "DT 31144"

DT 31139 (Full Review)

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31139

A full review by Rahmat Ali

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

This puzzle was published on 17th January 2026

BD Rating – Difficulty **Enjoyment ****

Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, lovely Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31139 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3623

Toughie No 3623 by Silvanus
Hints and tips by ALP

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

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

Silvanus on a Thursday is always welcome. He’s returned with a typically toothsome number that has only a whisper of GK – money that I needed to spellcheck, a bird (that even I’d heard of!) and a Caribbean island probably better known for its eponymous liqueur. But there’s nothing too outlandish. Fun and fair. All yours.

Continue reading “Toughie 3623”

DT 31143

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31143
Hints and Tips by Gazza

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **  Enjoyment ***

All the letters of the alphabet except X appear in today’s grid which may point to the identity of our setter. Thanks to him for an enjoyable and not too tricky puzzle.
Continue reading “DT 31143”

DT 31142

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31142
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Difficulty **  Enjoyment ***

Good morning from a wet and windy Hampshire, where I think someone must have been performing a 17d with spectacular success.  I found today’s puzzle to be suitably challenging for a Wednesday back-pager, with a couple of clues in the NE corner taking a while to fall, pushing my solving time into 2* territory.  I thought there were many concise and elegant clues today; I particularly liked the match official in 10a and the ebullient Mr Cantona in 21a, but my favourite is the cryptic definition in 3d.  Many thanks to today’s setter.

In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and indicator words (e.g. anagram indicators) are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons.

Continue reading “DT 31142”