Toughie No 3741 by Dada
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings and welcome to another Toughie Week! Many thanks to Gazza and ALP for filing in whist I was off on my Jollies – Audouin’s gull, Cory’s, Scopoli’s, Balearic and Manx shearwaters, crested tit, spotless starling, black redstart, long-finned pilot whale, common dolphin, loggerhead turtle, and a (probably Fin) whale were the wildlife highlights, plus 70-odd seconds of total eclipse, so I’m pretty happy with that haul!
Dada had given us a stiff test today, certainly meriting its Toughie label. There are some very clever and inventive clues but I didn’t warm to it as much as I was expecting, although I can’t really work out why. 16a and 26a get honourable mentions, but I’m giving my top prize today to 18a. Thanks to Dada for robustly knocking away the post-holiday cobwebs.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
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Toughie No 3740 by Luxor
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Thanks to Luxor for an enjoyable and quite tricky Toughie where my progress was steady rather than meteoric.
Please leave a comment telling us how you fared and what you liked about the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31313
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 8th August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A nice, lovely Saturday puzzle from NYDK that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback.
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Toughie No 3739 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****
What a difference a day makes, eh? I raced through this. It’s all pretty fair and there’s no exotic vocab as such – I even vaguely remembered 26a. Moreover, the pangram was helpful. Now, I am not a horsey chap and this may well be fanciful overreach, but 1a and then 25d got me thinking. The latter (Sir Henry) trained 13a; and 12a, 20a, 8d & 9d were all racehorses. There may be others but my Google thumb was getting tired. Certainly, if there isn’t/wasn’t one called 11a (though presumably not 25a) I’m Kylie Minogue. But perhaps the heat has just further addled my brain. The floor is, as ever, yours to put me right …
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31317
Hints and Tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A very good Thursday morning from Winnipeg where we are enjoying seasonal temperatures with highs in the mid-20s.
For me, and I stress for me© (I have to say that for Terence), Kcit on Toughie duty so not a Dream Team Thursday! But, there is no doubt that this is the very entertaining work of the Master of Brevity. The usual one word clues and answers in the Quickie, and an appearance from the Queen, Ray T’s swEetheart, but not the plain sweetheart, in the back pager. 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 3738 by Donnybrook
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment ****
I thought this was a properly tough Toughie, for both a Wednesday and a Donnybrook
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31316
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 got off to a flying start with today’s crossword, aided by the linked solutions in the first and last rows, but paused over the grass in 6d and Tracey’s coupling in 12d, although both answers are fairly gettable from the wordplay alone. My favourite clues today are 8a, the aforementioned 12d, and 16d. Many thanks to our setter.
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Sunday Toughie No 236 by Beam
Full Review by Gazza
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This puzzle was published on 02/08/26
Across Clues
1a Friendly, therefore guy protects single (8)
SOCIABLE: an adverb meaning therefore and the sort of guy used to hold up a tent contain the Roman single. Continue reading “Sunday Toughie 236 (full review)”
Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3380
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 2nd August 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A really entertaining puzzle from Dada this Sunday and now I present to you a full review of his puzzle for your kind perusal and valuable feedback and comments. Continue reading “ST 3380 (Full Review)”