Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31210
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Continue reading "DT 31210"
DT 31205 (Full Review)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31205
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 4th April 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A bit tough 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 31205 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3667
Toughie No 3667 by Prime
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***/****
This seemed quite tricky mid-solve, so I was surprised to look at the clock afterwards – it was actually pretty speedy. I think such contradiction was largely because it took me a moment to find a way in and most of the shorts needed at least one crosser to crack. There is a smidgeon of vocab (12a) and a dollop of religion (12d, etc) but nothing outlandish and all fairly clued. Over to you. Continue reading “Toughie 3667”
EV 1740 (Solution)
DT 31209
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31209
Hints and Tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg where, yesterday, on the 19th day of Spring we woke up to fluffy white precipitation courtesy of an Alberta Clipper! Fortunately, in my area, there was only 5 to 10 cms and the roads and footpaths are already warm enough that it ‘self cleared.’
For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), a puzzle of two halves, North and South, but once again not half of a Dream Team Thursday, Prime on Toughie duty today, but no doubt that this is the work of the Master of Brevity. The usual one word clues and answers in the Quickie, and appearances from the Queen and his swEetheart, don’t be confused by the second ‘sweetheart’ in 1d (check the hint), appearing in the back pager with an average of 5.2 words per clue. Also, like Dada, Ray T still seems to be making occasional use of a personal thesaurus. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
Toughie 3666
Toughie No 3666 by Donnybrook
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
DT 31208
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31208
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Wednesday back-pager blog. I found this crossword to be just about the right level of difficulty for a midweek puzzle. It took me a while to parse two or three of the clues, pushing me into ** time. Amongst my favourites today are 10a, 11a, 28a and 24d, but top spot goes to the brilliant 7d. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie 218 (Review)
Sunday Toughie No 218 by Beam
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 29th of March 2026
ST 3362 (Full Review)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3362
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 29th March 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has offered us yet another enjoyable solve this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle. Hope to have your valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3362 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3665
Toughie No 3665 by Django
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***/**** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from a very Spring-like Wirral – just as long as you can stay in the sun and out of the rather toothy wind!
I was delighted -and somewhat nervous – when I saw Django’s name when I opened my Dead Tree. I missed his recent Tuesday appearance and was hoping for a repeat visit. However, I was also well aware that I don’t always find his puzzles straightforward, so solving against a deadline adds an element of peril. I always start by getting lost in Django’s narratives – I read the clues as mini stories, and forget to take them as directions to an answer, and it takes a little while before I start to treat them like a puzzle. That’s a large part of what I like about Django’s crosswords, and today was no exception.
We have an interesting mix of (relative) “gimmes” to get the ball rolling, some good mid-rage difficulty clues and some that took quite a lot of head-scratching to tease out, hence the elevated overall difficulty rating. A fun challenge, though, and many thanks to Django for giving the brain cells a jump-start! I’m giving rosettes today to 12d, 16d and 19d. However, top prize goes to 24d, for the amusing mental image.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.