Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31221
Hints and Tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty 2.5* – Enjoyment 4.5*
For those who honour it, a very good St George’s Day from Winnipeg where Spring may finally have sprung with rain as the only precipitation in the 14 day weather forecast!
For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), if this were a Dada on Sunday I might be using the term quirky, once again not half of a Dream Team Thursday, Dharma 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, but no second ‘sweetheart’ this week, appearing in the back pager with an average of 5.25 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!
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Toughie No 3674 by Beam
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
A typical Beam crossword which only took a tiny bit longer to solve than one of his Thursday back pagers
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31220
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ***
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. For me, this was the hardest solve of the week so far. It took me a while to get the three long anagrams 1a, 1d and 8d, but once I’d cracked these everything else fell into place. I liked the cricketing misdirection in 17a and the dull French group in 3a, but my favourite today was the pachydermal pothead in 28a. There is also an excellent Quickie pun. Many thanks to our setter.
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Sunday Toughie No 220 by proXimal
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 12th April 2026
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3364
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 12th April 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. An entertaining Sunday puzzle from Dada which I thoroughly enjoyed and I now present a full review of it. Your valuable feedback and comments in this regard are most welcome. Continue reading “ST 3364 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3673 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to another Toughie Week. I’m back in a Very Spring-like Wirral for this week. The migrants continue to arrive or pass through heading North; the sand martins are back exploring the nesting wall at RSPB Burton Mere, and I managed to successfully twitch the wryneck that spent a day in one of Burton village’s sheep fields. Well, just its head, really – I didn’t have much time en route for a stroll with The Present Lady Whybird through Burton Mere’s lovely bluebell wood.
We have a full-on Toughie from Dada today that could easily have slotted in a day or two later in the week. There are a few musical references, but I’m not sure there are enough to constitute a theme. My solve wasn’t helped by the Dead Tree arriving late, which meant I started on the iPad and only really got into the swing once I had a suitably-folded Broadsheet in my hands. I felt this was a rather quirky puzzle, with a few I’ve had to scratch my head over, but there are also a few absolute belters. I knew I was going to love 14d from the moment I saw it – the idea of an extra brock in reserve that it brought to mind made me smile, although I doubt that was the allusion Dada intended. Nothing to do with the solution, either. Anyway, 14d takes top spot in a 28a with 2d, and with honourable mentions for 1a and 20a. Thank you, Dada, for getting the mental cogs spinning.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31219
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** Enjoyment ****
Well it’s another lovely sunny day here in Harpenden though still deceptively chilly. No golf today to dash off to so I’ve actually read through what’s written though that’s still no guarantee of a mistake free set of hints.
I thought today’s puzzle about on a par with yesterday in terms of difficulty & very enjoyable it was too. As you would expect from an Anthony Plumb production (I assume) it was concisely clued throughout with humour & a hint of topicality thrown in.
I see Dada is back in t’other place & I hope for Whybird’s sake he’s in a better mood than on Sunday.
Fingers crossed for a home win tonight for my team, Coventry City. We will be confirmed as champions of the Championship with another 3 points – the cherry on the cake having secured promotion last week back to top tier after a 25 year absence & very nearly falling out of the league.
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31218
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★★ – Enjoyment ★★★
Good morning, and welcome to Monday’s crossword. I think most will find this easier than the past couple of Mondays’. I actually finished this quickly, and those who rate difficulty purely on time may categorize this as just ★. But after my first pass there were still left many gaps in the grid, and a few of the clues have quite involved wordplay, so I think this is less suitable for a complete beginner than the puzzles I rate as ★, and ★★ it is.
Spouse and I are just back from a long weekend away to celebrate my birthday, which was a square number this year. See these pictues to work out where we went:
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A Puzzle by someguyinthefridge
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Continue reading “Rookie Corner 626”
Sunday Toughie No 221
by Beam
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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I found this Toughie from Beam at the easier end of difficulty, but your experience may vary. I got an early start, as this was available at 23:18 last night, and although most of his trademark clues are here, we again have a slightly unusual Queen in 20d.
A generous 32 clues today and I have hinted half. I will try and give an extra nudge or two if required and able to do so.
Here we go, Folks…
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