DT Cryptic Crosswords – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

Category: DT Cryptic Crosswords

Hints and tips for completing the regular Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords

DT 31253 (Full Review)

by Rahmat Ali  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31253

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 30th 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 31253 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3699

by ALP  

Toughie No 3699 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP

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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

Bloggers have to keep their wits about them tackling Karla. Not necessarily because of the wordplay – which is very straightforward today – but because he often hides a subtle Le Carré-flavoured Nina in the grid. Well, I can’t really spot one of those. Perhaps you can? But … there is a four-letter word (plus “set” and, possibly, “it”) running diagonally from the top left corner which, when anagrammed with 1a’s second letter, should/could give you summat. I may, of course, be reaching. I briefly thought, on clocking 14d, that Smiley might be making an appearance, but the last three letters of the crossing 18a don’t quite get you there – unless you play with them. We’ve also got a flurry of names – Enid, Charlie, Juliet, Victor, Seal (possibly), Vogue, Oscar and Cindy – but it’s certainly not a band I recognise! The floor, as ever, is yours.

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DT 31257

by Senf  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31257

Hints and Tips by Senf

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

A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg where thunderstorms are becoming more frequent!

For me, and I stress for me© (I have to say that for Terence), Dream Team Thursday seems to be becoming a distant memory but there is no doubt that this is the work of a very benevolent Master of Brevity with some lateral thinking required.  The usual one word clues and answers in the Quickie, and an appearance from the Queen, Ray T’s swEetheart, and the plain sweetheart in the back pager with an average of 4.9 words per clue.  Also, like Dada, Ray T still seems to be making occasional use of a personal thesaurus.  I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!

Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!

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DT 31256

by Deansleigh  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31256
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh

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BD Rating – Difficulty **  Enjoyment ***

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Wednesday back-pager blog.  For me, today’s crossword was the hardest of the week so far, with the SE corner the last to fall – for some reason it took me a while to parse 21d and 26a.  Amongst my favourite clues today are 10a, 14a, and the aforementioned 21d and 26a once the penny had dropped, but I’m going for 1a as my clue of the day.  Many thanks to our setter.

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DT 31255

by Huntsman  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31255

Hints and tips by Huntsman

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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***

The much needed rain with hopefully cooler temperatures has arrived so the prospect of a decent night’s kip a realistic prospect to look forward to.

I found today’s puzzle a good bit trickier than the usual Tuesday fare & for me at least more difficult than yesterday’s offering. It didn’t have the feeling of an Anthony Plumb production but I’m probably wrong so it will be interesting to see what others make of it. Anyway I enjoyed the solve & thought it nicely clued throughout.

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.

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DT 31254

by Smylers  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31254

Hints and tips by Smylers

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BD Rating – Difficulty ★★ – Enjoyment ★★★★

Welcome to June, and to Monday’s Telegraph crossword. We’re back from a week in Herefordshire to go to the Hay Festival (which is a festival about books, not about hay). Talks enjoyed by various members of the family included those by Susie Dent, Elizabeth Strout, Richard Coles, Ian Hislop, and a couple of Beano writers.

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