Toughie No 3640 by El & Gar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Tag: Daily Telegraph
DT 31168
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31168
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. Today we have a puzzle where intricate wordplay and complex letter algebra trumps everything else. Continue reading "DT 31168"
DT 31163 (Full Review)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31163
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 14th February 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. Continue reading “DT 31163 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3639
Toughie No 3639 by Kcit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
Highly enjoyable shenanigans from Kcit today with a smidgeon of tricky vocab (e.g. 16a’s “age”) and a pleasingly classical feel. There was, happily, no need to know about models of mobile phones popular in New Zealand this time out but I suspect not many of us (with two notable exceptions!) will be overly familiar with 20a’s definition. Still, it’s all fair – and fun. Over to you.
DT 31167
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31167
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***
A pleasant puzzle which shouldn’t cause too many problems. Thanks to our setter.
Continue reading “DT 31167”
Toughie 3638
Toughie No 3638 by Bandit
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
DT 31166
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31166
Hints and Tips by Deansleigh
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** Enjoyment ****
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Wednesday back-pager blog. I found today’s crossword to be a notch or two more difficult than yesterday’s, with the NW corner being the last to fall. There was much to enjoy and admire, with my favourites being 2d, 8d and 24a. There is also an excellent six-word pun in the Quick crossword. Many thanks to today’s setter.
Toughie 3637
Toughie No 3637 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Whybird is away enjoying the delights of the subcontinent so I’m filling in for him today. Thanks to Chalicea for a pleasant puzzle though it’s more like a midweek back-pager than a Toughie.
Continue reading “Toughie 3637”
DT 31165
Daily Telegraph
No 31165
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Huntsman’s away on his jollies so I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. We have the usual Tuesday fare – typically fair and suitably gentle with credible surfaces. Over to you.
DT 31164
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31164
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa, where today is Family Day – a mid-winter public holiday in Canada (what those of you on the other side of the pond would call a bank holiday). It is also the final day of Winterlude, Ottawa’s annual winter festival. On my last appearance here, which coincided with the first weekend of Winterlude, I rather unsuccessfully attempted to include a video showing some of the early stages of the event. At that time, the ice sculptors were just beginning work on their creations. Today’s video shows them well on the way to completion. The video concludes with a cute little parable that a few world leaders would do well to take to heart!
I spent some interesting time researching today’s musical dive into history. It dates to a period shortly before my time (which means it will be almost prehistoric for those who reported Karen Carpenter was before their time) and it may not even be too modern for Daisygirl!
I thought the puzzle was well suited to the Monday slot – a gentle but fun start to the week. For me, it was borderline one or two star difficulty.
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.