Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
Hints and tips for completing Daily Telegraph Cryptic crosswords
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Today, in the words of Bonnie Tyler, “It’s the Heart Ace.” I decided to give Claude something specific to get his virtual teeth into, so I asked, “A themed crossword puzzle involves a single keyword which could be cryptically described as ‘short kind of party dress’. What might this word be?”
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where Boxing Week (when did that become a thing?) sales, some of which started before Christmas, are still in progress!
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly again with, unless I miscounted, seven anagrams (three partials), two lurkers, and one homophone in a somewhat asymmetric 29 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!
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 3612 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
There are a few gimmes here but in the main this required a fair bit of work. There are no anagrams (that’s fine by me) and I enjoyed the challenge a lot. Thanks to Osmosis.
Continue reading “Toughie 3612”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today I couldn’t fully parse one clue or get the Quickie pun, so not a great start to the year for me. Continue reading "DT 31126"
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This puzzle was published on 27th December 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Wishing you all a Very Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2026 from Kolkata. 2025 was an insignis annus for me. I passed my Master’s in Public Administration from the Indira Gandhi National Open University with the results declared in March 2025 and I will be getting the degree at the University’s forthcoming Convocation, expected in March 2026. I also passed the second semester examination of M.Sc. (Environmental Science) held in June 2025 and will have appeared in all the papers of the third semester before the publication of my next review. I also appeared at the first year examination of M.A. (Education) held in December 2025. Alongside my studies, I continued teaching the Portuguese language at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture here in the city and at the other end of the globe here at Big Dave’s Crossword Blog, sixty full reviews penned by me were published in addition to nine more of my puzzles (one in 2023 and seven in 2024) in Rookie Corner from where I earned a promotion to Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle with my first puzzle appearing on 6 December. All said and done, I owe a great deal of gratitude in this regard to my mentors at this world’s biggest and undoubtedly the best crossword blog.
A nice, brilliant Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31121 (Full Review)”
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
A very happy New Year to you all, one made brighter still by the appearance of Samuel – the one-and-only Chris Lancaster. It’s been a while since we’ve seen one of his Toughies, so this was an especial treat. Suitably gentle-ish for January 1, and impeccably fair, but fizzing with wit, as one would expect. I particularly enjoyed seeing a grown-up set 3d, i.e, properly! All yours.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31125
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers and a very Happy New Year to you all.
I have been blogging the Thursday back-pager since August 2023, but I now need to pass the baton on. I have been invited to join the Telegraph team of setters and there is an unwritten, but understandable, rule that setters should not comment on other setters’ work. My first DT puzzle will appear in the Toughie slot on 7th January.
Naturally I am thrilled to join the group of setters, but I will miss my blogging duties, particularly as I now leave the coast clear for Huntsman to win the race to 200 blogs! I will not, however, miss setting my alarm clock every Wednesday evening! My thanks go to the BD management team for inviting me to take on the role in the first place and particular thanks to Gazza for teaching this IT Luddite the joys of working with WordPress. I wish my successor well.
What about today’s puzzle, I hear you cry? Good point, well made. This is undoubtedly the work of RayT as all of his trademarks are there. He has even excelled himself by smashing through the 5 words/clue barrier. If my calculations are correct, he is averaging a miserly 4.9 words per clue. Remarkable.
I found it slightly trickier than usual, but then I solved it at silly o’clock when I was woken up by the local celebratory fireworks at midnight. I hope you enjoyed it – the puzzle, that is, not the fireworks.
Many thanks to RayT and to the DT Crossword Team.
