Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31286
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the midweek back-pager blog. I found today’s puzzle to be a step up in difficulty from the previous two days, with some general knowledge required and one or two rather obscure words, but everything is fairly clued. Amongst my favourites today are 22a, 25a, 26a, 2d and 24d, but the clue I liked best was 1a, for its brevity and very clever misdirection. There is also a superb Quickie pun. Many thanks to our setter for a thoroughly enjoyable workout.
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Sunday Toughie No 231 by Beam
Review by Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 28th of June 2026
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3375
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 28th June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. An excellent and straightforward puzzle from Dada this Sunday that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3375 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3717 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Welcome to the Toughie Week. I have been expecting a Shabbo for a couple of weeks and I reckon he has spent the time since his last Toughie fermenting extra deviousness. I found this fairly tricky, and technically is a “DNF” as I had to call in the cavalry to help with the complete parsing of 1a. There are some absolutely cracking clues, with 9a, 12a, 20d and 27a in particular standing out for me. However, my top spot goes to the hilarious 8d.
Thanks, Shabbo, for an absolute blast.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31284
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where we seem to have followed in the footsteps of those of you on the other side of the pond and have recently been enduring temperatures above 30 degrees C. On Canada Day, July 1, a storm dumped nearly 5 inches of rain on Ottawa in a couple of hours resulting in widespread flooding and the cancellation of all afternoon and evening festivities on our national holiday. Among the casualties was my basement which experienced a sewer backup. I now have a mountain of sewage contaminated material sitting on my front lawn awaiting pickup.
I won’t even attempt to guess the identity of today’s setter but, whoever it may be. has given us a gentle and fun introduction to the crossword solving week.
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.
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Toughie No 3716 by Luxor
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Luxor has upped his difficulty level a bit since his last Toughie and has given us an enjoyable challenge – thanks to him. I thought at one stage that we were heading for a pangram but it was not to be.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31277
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 27th June 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A truly interesting 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 31277 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3715 by Dharma
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****/*****
A rumbustious return from Dharma, full of his typical humour and honed surfaces, prompting a slow start but a quick finish. I found many of the downs marginally easier than the acrosses but that’s possibly because I had all the checkers by then – being pathetically English, I do like to doggedly work from top to bottom. Other methods are, of course, available. Hopefully, my 2.5 will find safer harbour than usual … the floor is yours to trumpet your agreement!
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EV1752
Double Crests by Luxor
Solution
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