Sunday Toughie No 219 by Silvanus
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 5th of April 2026
ST 3363 (Full Review)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3363
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 5th April 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has given us an excellent and friendly 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 3363 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3669
Toughie No 3669 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Greetings! This week your Itinerant Blogger finds himself in a cottage on the Eaton Manor estate close to Church Stretton – views of Wenlock Edge (complete with Brown Hares on the slopes) to one side, and Long Mynd across the valley. Blackcaps and Nuthatches singing in the garden (and the latter also bizarrely from top of the tower of St Edith’s Church), red kites over the valley. It’s a tough assignment, but someone’s got to do it…
We have another high-quality puzzle from Shabbo to start our Toughie Week. I had just enough of a battle with a few of the clues to take this into Gentle Toughie Territory. Even with some of the gentler clues, I found I had to force myself to break the clues down into their elements and not get distracted by the surfaces. Like Django, but usually more concisely, Shabbo has a knack of leading me down the garden path! My favourites today were the Operatic Repairmen in 22a, the distracting surface in 2d and the narrative anagram in 14d. Thank you, Shabbo, for the entertainment.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
DT 31213
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31213
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***/****
Well if yesterday was a good bit trickier than usual today’s Anthony Plumb (I assume) production was, as Senf would say, Typically Tuesdayish. Fun for the short time it lasted & as ever concisely clued throughout. I have to dash off for golf so hopefully no mistakes & unlike last week, when I needed my trusty phone a friend option (today’s Toughie setter) to unravel Anthea’s mysteries, all of the parsing was straightforward too. Do give Shabbo’s puzzle over in t’other place a whirl – it’s very gentle & good fun.
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.
DT 31212
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31212
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where it is finally beginning to feel like spring with day time temperatures reaching the mid to high teens and overnight lows, for the most part, staying above the freezing point.
Perhaps I’m having an off day but I found this puzzle considerably more difficult than I am accustomed to on Monday. The east went in fairly smoothly though not quickly but I struggled in the west.
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.
Rookie Corner 625
Sunday Toughie 220 (Hints)
Sunday Toughie No 220
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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proXimal is here again with all his Sunday Toughie trademarks. I found this much easier than his last offering, but mainly because the Spoonerism leapt out of my mind within seconds of seeing the crossword at 23:32 last night.
We have 14a and 14d clues today, and I have hinted at half. I hope you find the checkers to get across the line. I will try and give a bonus nudge or two if you ask, but I don’t think this was as difficult as some from proXimal.
Here we go, Folks…
EV 1742 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1742 (Hints)
Prime by Arcadia
Hints and tips by Phibs
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The name Arcadia immediately brings to my mind a shop in St. Michael’s Street, Oxford.
ST 3364 (Hints)
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3364 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where yesterday we enjoyed a double digit (positive) temperature, for the first time since 23rd November of last year, of plus 11 degrees (plenty of double digit (negative) temperatures in the meantime).
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada quirkily friendly again – four longish ‘uns (only one an anagram), five anagrams (two partials), two lurkers (one reversed), and no homophones in a symmetric 32 clues; with 16 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!