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

Month: May 2026

DT 31235 (Full Review)

by Rahmat Ali  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31235

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 9th May 2026

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

Greetings from Kolkata. A nice and straightforward Saturday puzzle from the setter that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31235 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3687

by ALP  

Toughie No 3687 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP

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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment **/***

Pleasantly straightforward. 1a is arguably the trickiest clue but, having seen “birdwatching” used in a similar way recently, it flew in. Otherwise it will need checkers and/or some lateral thinking. A quintessentially Kcit puzzle, I’d say: all his usual traits are here and I can’t imagine (m)any problems. Still, you’ll be the judge of that! The floor is yours. Continue reading “Toughie 3687”

DT 31238

by Deansleigh  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31238
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh

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BD Rating – Difficulty *  Enjoyment ****

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Wednesday back-pager blog.  I must have tuned into the setter’s wavelength fairly quickly this morning, because I found today’s puzzle to be quite gentle for a Wednesday.  (I even had time to complete today’s Toughie, which is well worth having a go at.)  At one point I thought this was going to be a pangram, but I think it’s three letters short.  Amongst some excellent concise and witty clues, my favourites were the angry Americans in 13a, the suspect material in 17a, and the plus-sized old flame in 4d.  I also liked the Quickie pun.  Many thanks to our setter.

Continue reading “DT 31238”

ST 3367 (Full Review)

by Rahmat Ali  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3367

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 22nd May 2026

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

Greetings from Kolkata. A slightly tough yet entertaining Sunday puzzle from Dada that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3367 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3685

by Whybird  

Toughie No 3685 by Beam
Hints and tips by Whybird

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

We live in interesting and unusual times, that much is now clear, if it wasn’t already:  Beam on a Tuesday?  Whatever next? Anyway, whatever cosmic upheaval has brought this about, I am delighted that I have finally had the chance to blog one of his puzzles. Beam, initially in his back-page guise, and then in Toughie form, was the first setter whose individual style and craft I really started to understand and appreciate.  Of course, that was back in the day when he was more verbose, with as many as 7 or 8 words a clue…  

Having been working through backlog of Sunday Toughies, some featuring Beam in full-on Tough Toughie mode, I was worried about what I might face here, but he has been kind, whilst still giving us a challenge – notably parsing 5d, which was much harder than the solving part, and almost worth an extra difficulty star alone.  All of the usual suspects are there (royalty, initials, sweethearts), just the innuendo lacking to spare my blushes at breakfast. Amongst many fine clues, I’m giving my prizes to 4d, 9d, 14d, 29a and 30a.  Overall, another masterpiece in concise complexity! Thank you, Beam, for another excellent puzzle.

Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle. 

Continue reading “Toughie 3685”