Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing the regular Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Smooth surfaces and a shoutout to a Scottish football club are signature features of puzzles produced by today’s setter. Thanks to him for a fine puzzle to solve and to hint. Continue reading "DT 30916"
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This puzzle was published on 26th April 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Cephas set this Saturday Prize Puzzle
Toughie No 3471 by Beam
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
We have a typical Beam puzzle today. Thanks to him.
One thing we can be sure of with Beam is that his puzzles won’t leak on to a second page of printout.
Continue reading “Toughie 3471”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30915
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Sorry, but it is me again, as I sneak ever closer to Huntsman in the race to 100 blogs. According to the stats on the Meet the Blogger section of this wonderful site, today will bring me level with him at 95 blogs each. Please don’t tell him though, as I might try to sneak another extra blog in during May to pip him at the post!
A beautiful morning here in sunny Hertfordshire and I believe most of the country is blessed with similar weather. A day in the garden beckons as soon as I have finished this.
I enjoyed the puzzle today, which seemed to be pitched at about the right level for a Thursday. It is definitely not RayT and something tells me that it is not Silvanus either. That leaves me bereft of ideas for Guess the Setter, so over to you, dear solver. Ticks from me for the anagram at 1a, the spoonerism at 2d (light blue touch paper and retire) and the Rhine swimmer at 4d.
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.
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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!
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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.
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.
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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.
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Toughie No 3468 by Karla
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Thanks to Karla for an enjoyable puzzle. After failing to notice his Nina in the past I remembered to look this time but failed to find one. Did you do any better? I did notice that there are a number of metals in the grid but not enough, I think, to form a theme.
Continue reading “Toughie 3468”