Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
Sunday Toughie No 208
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Beam has brought us a generous 32 clues today and I have hinted half. I had a bit of parsing trouble last night, but I hope I have got them right. I hope you find the checkers to finish this fine puzzle and I will try and give a bonus nudge or two if you are struggling.
Why I was struggling a bit last night – I was nearer the keyboard monitor than the keyboard player!
Here we go, Folks…
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There was nothing in the title or preamble for the AI contingent to get their virtual teeth into, so I asked Claude, “Shelley wrote a poem ‘To a Skylark’; could you write a five-line verse along the same lines to a lady crossword setter called ‘Skylark’?”
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where on Friday, as my ‘subscription anniversary’ is at the end of the month, I had my customary annual long distance conversation with the DT Subscriptions Department to discuss this year’s proposal, notified in an e-mail earlier in the week, to increase my subscription by an eye-watering 325% more than I paid last year (no need to go to Specsavers, it really is three hundred and twenty-five per cent). However, after a friendly and polite conversation with a real person, my subscription for the next ‘subscription year’ will be 22% less than I paid a year ago! The mind boggles! I look forward to having a similar conversation this time next year 
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada less friendly than he was last week with one of his signature initial letter clues, eight anagrams (three partials), one lurker, and no homophones in a slightly asymmetric 30 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
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Toughie No 3620 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Sparks has provided today’s enjoyable Toughie. Thanks to him.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3620”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31138
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ***
Mr K is traveling at the moment and unable to blog so at very short notice I’ve set up the clues and answers and underlined the definitions. I’ve no time to write the hints so feel free to contribute hints for individual clues – I’ll incorporate good ones in the blog later.
Update: As Gazza is also blogging the Toughie, I have stepped in to provide some hurried hints for the backpager. I’m sure I’ve made lots of mistakes but if you point them out, please tell us what you thought of the crossword at the same time.
Difficult to tell at the speed at which I was solving, parsing and typing, but it did seem to be that there were a lot of repeated clue devices throughout
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This puzzle was published on 10th January 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A challenging yet entertaining 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 31133 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Parsing 28a ***** – Enjoyment ***
Fairly straightforward Lego from Kcit today, bar one spot of parsing (28a). I had to dredge up some A-level vocab for 1a and 6d’s “amount of work” but the definitions largely jumped out. All told, a pretty brisk solve. Pondering over the mechanics of 28a easily took as long (for me, anyroad) as the entire puzzle! All yours.