Toughie No 3686 by Stick Insect
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty <* – Enjoyment ****
Tag: Daily Telegraph
DT 31238
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31238
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 must have tuned into the setter’s wavelength fairly quickly this morning, because I found today’s puzzle to be quite gentle for a Wednesday. (I even had time to complete today’s Toughie, which is well worth having a go at.) At one point I thought this was going to be a pangram, but I think it’s three letters short. Amongst some excellent concise and witty clues, my favourites were the angry Americans in 13a, the suspect material in 17a, and the plus-sized old flame in 4d. I also liked the Quickie pun. Many thanks to our setter.
Toughie 3685
Toughie No 3685 by Beam
Hints and tips by Whybird
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
We live in interesting and unusual times, that much is now clear, if it wasn’t already: Beam on a Tuesday? Whatever next? Anyway, whatever cosmic upheaval has brought this about, I am delighted that I have finally had the chance to blog one of his puzzles. Beam, initially in his back-page guise, and then in Toughie form, was the first setter whose individual style and craft I really started to understand and appreciate. Of course, that was back in the day when he was more verbose, with as many as 7 or 8 words a clue…
Having been working through backlog of Sunday Toughies, some featuring Beam in full-on Tough Toughie mode, I was worried about what I might face here, but he has been kind, whilst still giving us a challenge – notably parsing 5d, which was much harder than the solving part, and almost worth an extra difficulty star alone. All of the usual suspects are there (royalty, initials, sweethearts), just the innuendo lacking to spare my blushes at breakfast. Amongst many fine clues, I’m giving my prizes to 4d, 9d, 14d, 29a and 30a. Overall, another masterpiece in concise complexity! Thank you, Beam, for another excellent puzzle.
Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle.
DT 31237
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31237
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** Enjoyment ***/****
A beautiful sunny, albeit slightly chilly, day here in Harpenden so a decent afternoon walk looks the order of the day.
I would have assumed today’s very enjoyable puzzle to be an Anthony Plumb production but Senf advises me that the Quick puzzle grid is not one that he uses so it remains to be seen if the setter pops in to claim ownership. I found the difficulty level about on a par with yesterday so continued respite after the challenges of the weekend prize puzzles.
For any seeking a further challenge the Beamer over in t’other place is more of a gentle long hop & well worth a look at.
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.
DT 31236
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31236
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where spring must be here as the annual Canadian Tulip Festival has begun. We are being honoured this year with a visit by Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. During the Second World War, the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in Ottawa and Princess Margriet was born here (part of the hospital was temporarily declared to be Dutch soil to ensure she had sole Dutch citizenship). As a token of appreciation for providing wartime shelter to the Royal Family as well as for Canada’s lead role in the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the war, the Netherlands gifted Canada 100,00 tulip bulbs and continues to gift 20,000 tulip bulbs each year. These constitute part of the approximately 1 million tulips in bloom across Ottawa.
The puzzle today is the expected gentle warmup to the week but provides plenty of enjoyment, especially to those who are fond of anagrams and charades. Two weeks ago, the puzzle was set by X-Type and he said he expected to return in May. However, I don’t think this is one of his but I’m not confident enough to risk one of my shiny new King Charles loonies.
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.
DT 31235 (Hints)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31235 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
(hosted by crypticsue)
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Toughie 3684
Toughie No 3684 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
For a Friday Toughie Sparks is being quite gentle with us today. Thanks to him. He often gives a Nina in the grid and today we have a Dylan Thomas play as well as a phrase which is used backwards in 3d.
DT 31234
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31234
Hints and tips by Mr K
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BD Rating - Difficulty *** - Enjoyment ****
Hello, everyone, and welcome to a fun Friday puzzle. Continue reading "DT 31234"
DT 31229 (Full Review)
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31229
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 2nd May 2026
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A brilliant Saturday puzzle from the setter that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a review of the same for your kind perusal and significant feedback. Continue reading “DT 31229 (Full Review)”
Toughie 3683
Toughie No 3683 by Bandit
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Crackerjack. Bandit’s taken some big swings here with brio and invention. They didn’t all (quite) land for me, but most did. And one has to applaud such welcome novelty: smart, fair wordplay and some sparky definitions. SO refreshing.
I didn’t find this too tricky as 1a’s slight quirk set the tone from the off – it’s always a glorious sign when the first clue does that. Get on the setter’s wavelength early on, lap up a couple of gimmes and you’re away.
Added to which, he’s enabled me to self-indulgently clip G. Love, Rocky, Dury, Withnail, Loudon, Ivor, the Tour de France AND a spot of boss reggae … that’s a full house! So it could only be a fiver from me. With – I trust – 3ds at hand, the floor is yours.