Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31368
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★★ – Enjoyment ★★
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31362
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where there is no doubt that fall has arrived and the autumn leaves can be seen in their full splendour. In Canada, we interchangeably use the terms fall (a term that apparently was once in use in the UK and brought to North America by early British settlers) and autumn (seemingly a word of French origin that appears to have totally supplanted the word fall in the UK to the point that Brits think fall is an Americanism).
Fortunately, today’s challenge was not too difficult as I was labouring to complete it while distracted by other matters. I suspect it may be the work of Heron; I should know in the morning (it’s still Sunday evening in Ottawa as I write this) as she usually claims ownership of her puzzles on Bluesky.
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31356
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★ – Enjoyment ★★
Good morning. Welcome to Monday’s Telegraph Crossword. Hints to, explanations of, and pedantry about the clues follow.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31350
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where summer is fast coming to a close – not only according to the calendar but the thermometer as well. Overnight temperatures are well into single digits and flirting with the frost threshold.
I’m once again doing back to back reviews as Smylers has graciously agreed to swap assignments so I can attend an event next week.
The swap is also timely in that today’s review marks a milestone for me as I have now completed my sixteenth year of contributions to this blog, my first review having appeared on September 15, 2010.
As has been mentioned earlier this week, several Canadian provinces will not revert to Standard Time this fall but continue on Daylight Saving Time year round. Ontario will not be one of them, although I understand that Ontario has passed legislation to do away with changing the clocks but is waiting to implement the change until Quebec and New York state decide to do likewise. I suspect a major reason for the delay is to keep the Toronto, Montreal and New York stock exchanges in sync. I also understand that the U.S. Congress is currently considering the matter. Undoubtedly, the politicians in their infinite wisdom will choose Daylight Time despite all scientific and medical evidence showing that Standard Time would clearly be preferable for a host of reasons.
Although still a gentle start to the week, I found this puzzle to be a slight step up in difficulty from the last couple of puzzles I blogged. There appear to be three setters sharing the Monday slot. I’m going to hazard a guess that this one is from Weatherman. If I’m wrong, Heron will likely claim it on Bluesky if it’s one of hers and X-Type sometimes drops in here to take credit for his creations.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31344
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa, where I have enjoyed a beautiful late summer weekend. Sadly, my time spent here will soon come to end and I will close it up until spring.
Once again, we have a gentle, fun puzzle to warm up the little grey cells to face the challenges headed our way later in the week. I’ll be checking Bluesky in the morning to see if it is the work of the setter I suspect.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31338
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★ – Enjoyment ★★★★
Hello. It’s Monday, and the start of a new crosswording week. Our children still aren’t back at school yet (one starts on Wednesday and t’other on Thursday). Maybe I should suggest they have a go at this crossword?
On Saturday we visited RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate, where we saw this impressive Kingfisher:
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31332
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★★ – Enjoyment ★★★★
Hello. It’s the last day of August, and a Bank Holiday for those in England, Northern Ireland, or Wales — meaning I get to write this at a more relaxed pace, instead of the usual need to finish solving and blogging early, before working 9 to 5.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31326
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where summer is gradually beginning to edge toward the wings and I am trying hard to enjoy what little is left before it leaves the stage entirely.
While I have successfully called the setters on a couple of recent puzzles, I don’t believe I’ll press my luck today. I think most solvers will find today’s offering is well-suited to the level of difficulty we expect to start the week.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31320
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★★ – Enjoyment ★★
Hello. Thank you to Falcon for covering this slot last week, when I was returning a hire car from our holiday in my usual ‘blogging time’ before work. If you want to know where we went, you should be able to triangulate our location from these distances (click to enlarge):
![a signpost pointing in lots of directions, with labels including ‘Christmas Isle 12790’, ‘Tahiti 11830’, ‘[Ne]w Zealand 12090’, ‘Botany Bay 13325’, and ‘Alaska 16990’](https://i0.wp.com/bigdave44.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Captain-Cook-signpost.jpg?resize=444,250)
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31314
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where we have had a beautiful sunny Sunday. No, you did not sleep through a whole week. I’m back this week while Smylers enjoys a holiday road trip with his family.
Today’s puzzle is perfectly pitched for a Monday although some solvers may be caught out by a few rather whimsical definitions. I’m wondering whether this might be an X-Type creation (as usual my predictions are subject to the caveat that they are usually wrong).
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.
Continue reading “DT 31314”
![a signpost pointing in lots of directions, with labels including ‘Christmas Isle 12790’, ‘Tahiti 11830’, ‘[Ne]w Zealand 12090’, ‘Botany Bay 13325’, and ‘Alaska 16990’](https://i0.wp.com/bigdave44.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Captain-Cook-signpost.jpg)