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. I don’t know who set today’s puzzle, but they did an excellent job! (well, except for mangling Ohm’s Law). Continue reading "DT 30904"
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This puzzle was published on 12th April 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Toughie No 3463 by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Another enjoyable puzzle from Kcit. Thanks to him.
Continue reading “Toughie 3463”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30903
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I don’t know about you, but I found this quite tricky, requiring my full attention throughout. That is not a bad thing, of course, particularly on a Thursday and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Perhaps the slightly unfriendly grid didn’t help, but more likely I was just being a bit slow to unravel some beautifully written clues.
Much to my granddaughter’s disgust, I had never heard of the film franchise at 2d, but the answer was gettable without this knowledge. The England cricketer at 17d of course posed no issues to this sportsman (retired!). For once, I will opt for the Spoonerism at 21a as my CoD – very amusing!
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.
Thank you, setter for a very decent challenge.
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
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BD Rating – Difficulty 2.5* – Enjoyment 4.5*
A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where, after a pizza and ice cream cake, with seconds, lunch accompanied by two pints of mild I thought I might be too soporific to be able to solve and blog today’s puzzle on my Tuesday evening. Fortunately, it seems that the setter was psychically sympathetic to my situation and has provided a relatively straightforward puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***/****
A miserable start to the day here in Harpenden but with the consolation of some much needed rain for the golf courses.
A typical Tuesday offering from the Prof today. Nicely clued as ever & with one or two slightly tricky parses. Apologies if the review is mistake laden but am feeling the effects of late nights watching golf & early starts working.
In the following hints, definitions are underlined, indicators are mostly in parentheses, and answers are revealed by clicking where shown as usual. Please leave a comment below on how you got on with the puzzle.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa, where, as I write this on Sunday evening, we have been basking for a brief spell in some gloriously warm and sunny spring weather that Senf has so generously forwarded from Manitoba.
The clock indicates that the puzzle could not have been as difficult as my gut reaction told me. I think my gut was unduly influenced by a handful of tricky parsings that held out to the very end. The high number of anagrams and lurkers allowed speedy progress to be made early in the solve. However, despite their large number, the anagrams were so well constructed that (for me, at least) they did not detract from the puzzle.
I only identified one pun in today’s Quickie but there could well be a second that escaped me.
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 3460 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
Osmosis always gives us a proper Toughie with cunningly disguised definitions and clever wordplay. Today there are no anagrams and only the absence of K stops the puzzle from being a pangram. I enjoyed working through it – thanks to our setter.
Continue reading “Toughie 3460”