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 – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
I read all the clues; I wrote in the solution to 25d and then I stared at the rest of the clues for what seemed like ages before slowly and surely the grid began to fill. Although this was a proper Elgar Toughie, it wasn’t as difficult as I first thought it might be
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31372"
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This puzzle was published on 10th October 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, interesting Saturday puzzle from Chris Lancaster that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31367 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Typically elegant, albeit über-gentle for a Thursday Django. Not that I’m complaining as I have about a million way trickier fish to fry today! I enjoyed it. Over to you.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31371
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
A very enjoyable puzzle with a theme based on the members of the 27a rock band. Many thanks to our setter.
Continue reading “DT 31371”
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Weatherman set us a nice ‘start of the week’ Toughie with the possibility of learning some new words along the way
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle to be the most challenging of the week so far – an excellent Wednesday workout. There are some very clever clue constructions: I especially liked 9a, once I’d worked out what was going on, and I thought 7d was ingenious. 25a might divide opinion, as it requires some cricketing general knowledge, but it makes it onto my podium as well. Many thanks to our setter.
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***/****
A miserable start to the morning here in Harpenden though the forecast promises a dry afternoon so I’ll make a judgement later as to whether it’s sensible to take my wheezing chest onto the golf course. Having been firmly entrenched in the Slough of Despond after 4 opening defeats, 10 goals conceded & none scored my team’s impressive 4-1 thumping of Newcastle at home last night for a 2nd successive victory has lightened the mood considerably – if we can travel to a struggling Spurs next Monday & get a result I’ll start to really believe we can stay in the division.
Today’s puzzle is unmistakably an Anthony Plumb production & as Senf says it was Typically Tuesdayish. I’d rate it about on a par with yesterday in terms of difficulty though there were maybe one or two elements to it that required some GK. As ever it was nicely clued throughout & it was an enjoyably brisk solve.
Our old Thursday blogger is on duty over in t’other place with another of his delightfully gentle Toughies that I cannot recommend highly enough. It really is no more difficult than the back-pager & is great fun so give it a try if you never venture to the other side. Whybird (if back from his travels) will be delighted to hear your thoughts.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians, including my Monday blogging partner Falcon. And if you aren’t Canadian, maybe you can think of something else to be thankful for today?
Here we’re in the middle of Ilkley Literature Festival. So far we’ve been entertained by poets Brian Bilston and Pam Ayres, informed by John Kampfner, and introduced to a couple of new-to-me novelists, at which we were given proof copies of their books due out in April. One of next weekend’s talks is crossword-related: Alys Cummings is talking about her debut novel Murder Most Cryptic. If that sounds like your kind of thing, come and join us: buy a ticket and treat yourself to a trip to Ilkley.
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