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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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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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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31253 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
(hosted by crypticsue)
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Toughie No 3696 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *****+ – Enjoyment *****
There is one thing the solver can be certain about when it is Elgar Friday is that there will be no doubt whatsoever that we will have a properly tough Toughie to solve Continue reading “Toughie 3696”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31247
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 23rd May 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice and straightforward Saturday puzzle from Twmbarlwm that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31247 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3695 by Donnybrook
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **+ – Enjoyment ****/*****
I thoroughly enjoyed this. There’s a spot of vocab – 27a was unknown to me – but it’s all very fairly clued. I initially suspected we were approaching *** territory as – despite getting lucky with 1a, having recently visited Hungary – I found the top a little bumpy. But the second half eases up dramatically. Whether that’s because it really is significantly easier in the South or whether I’d just refound my Donny legs by then, I’m not entirely sure. Certainly, there is NO science, which always makes me sob. And there is an extremely helpful and literally comic mini-theme. So **+ (as in not quite a 2.5) it is … for a Thursday. As ever, the floor is yours to agree disagree. PS … I should add (ta lots Sloop) that this is apparently Donnybrook’s 100th Toughie, as perhaps alluded to by the 11 ‘C’s dotted about the grid. Hats off, sir: a tremendous achievement.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31251
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Thanks to today’s setter for an enjoyable puzzle which I found slightly trickier than its predecessors this week but still pretty accessible.
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Toughie No 3694 by Prime
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty <* – Enjoyment ****
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