Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Silvanus on a Thursday is always welcome. He’s returned with a typically toothsome number that has only a whisper of GK – money that I needed to spellcheck, a bird (that even I’d heard of!) and a Caribbean island probably better known for its eponymous liqueur. But there’s nothing too outlandish. Fun and fair. All yours.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31143
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
All the letters of the alphabet except X appear in today’s grid which may point to the identity of our setter. Thanks to him for an enjoyable and not too tricky puzzle.
Continue reading “DT 31143”
BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty */** – Enjoyment *****
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
Good morning from a wet and windy Hampshire, where I think someone must have been performing a 17d with spectacular success. I found today’s puzzle to be suitably challenging for a Wednesday back-pager, with a couple of clues in the NE corner taking a while to fall, pushing my solving time into 2* territory. I thought there were many concise and elegant clues today; I particularly liked the match official in 10a and the ebullient Mr Cantona in 21a, but my favourite is the cryptic definition in 3d. Many thanks to today’s setter.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and indicator words (e.g. anagram indicators) are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons.
Sunday Toughie No 207 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 11th January 2026
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This puzzle was published on 11th January 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A lovely and friendly puzzle from Dada this Sunday which I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3351 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3621 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Hello and welcome to another Toughie week. I was expecting Chalicea to be on duty today, and I wasn’t disappointed. I found this a notch or two above her normal difficulty level – definitely not in Floughie territory – and thoroughly enjoyed having to dig around in slightly more obscure areas of vocabulary. I’m also pleased that I can use “synonym” in the hints, unlike last Tuesday. I have plenty of Smileys over the clues, notably 1a, 2a, 3d and 12a, but my favourite is the very elegant (if not too difficult) 4d. You’ll need your sticky-backed plastic or other type of adhesive for a few of the clues, but not too many need you to ask a responsible adult for help with scissors!
Thank you, Chalicea, for a fun start to the week!
Please let us know how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ****
I thought today’s puzzle perhaps a tad tougher than Tuesdays of late although by no stretch a difficult grid fill. I assume that it’s an Anthony Plumb production & I thought it nicely clued throughout & very enjoyable. I see Chalicea is over in t’other place so that’s guaranteed to be worth a visit.
As usual there are an assortment of musical clips 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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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where we are currently experiencing fairly typical winter weather (daytime highs of -5C) but a cold snap is forecast for next weekend when the high temperature is slated to be -20C (BRRR!) – although Senf will probably tell me that’s warm.
Again this week we have a fairly gentle introductory puzzle from X-Type (presumably).
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.