Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Prime has set us a Toughie which I thought was just right for a Wednesday apart from the age it took me to parse 1d which added an extra star to the difficulty rating
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword to be a step up in difficulty from the last two days. I thought it was a cracking puzzle, with plenty of wit and misdirection. Amongst my favourite clues today were 11a, 26a and 9d, but first place goes to 19d, for making me laugh out loud when the penny dropped. Many thanks to our setter.
Sunday Toughie No 228 by Light
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on 7th June 2026 Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 228 (Review)”
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This puzzle was published on 7th June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Greetings from Kolkata. Dada has given us a very delightful 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 3372 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3705 by Gila
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Welcome to the Toughie Week! This is a rare Toughie appearance for Gila and is certainly the first chance I’ve had to Blog one of his puzzles and that always increases the nervousness, but I needn’t have worried. The two long anagrams at 1a and 1d made for a rapid start, and I was thinking about a fractional difficulty rating. Then I got bogged down on 19a and 20d, which took me longer than the rest of the puzzle, although neither clue was objectively all that tricky. Prizes go to 5d, 10d (I can never remember the spelling – now I won’t forget) and the aforesaid 20d, with 21d pinching the top spot by a nose.
The clues are all well put together, so no concerns on that score, but my minor local difficulty in the SE notwithstanding, for me, this would have sat better on the back page. This blurring of the between inside and back page difficulties seems to be a frequent occurrence recently and is something I think the Puzzles Team should address. But remind me I said that when a full-on four- or five-star puzzle lands on my watch on a quiet Tuesday morning.
Thanks to Gila for a pleasant start to a sunny Tuesday.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. My dictionary got a lot more use today than on most Fridays. But of course, learning new words is one of the reasons we solve crosswords, and here they enabled some fun wordplay. Continue reading "DT 31264"
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This puzzle was published on 6th June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata.… Continue reading
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
What a joy to welcome Potoroo to the jungle party. A fine debut (here) that’s fresh and fun. Nothing too spooky – only 5d needed a spot of time travel (my Geography O level was 100 years ago) but it’s very fairly clued. The floor, as ever, is yours.
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31263
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
Thanks to today’s setter for an enjoyable puzzle which provides a step up in difficulty from the earlier ones this week.
Continue reading “DT 31263”
