Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31092
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where a dusting of snow overnight has created a wintery landscape. Christmas preparations are officially underway with the city’s Christmas tree having been lit on Friday and several Santa Claus parades occurring over the weekend. Many retailers, however, were putting out their Christmas displays before the Halloween goods were even off the shelves.
Today’s offering (presumably from X-Type) provides a very gentle introduction to the week’s roster of puzzles so it shouldn’t hold you up too long from getting on with your own Christmas preparations.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31091 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club (hosted by Cryptic-Sloop)
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I am standing in for Crypticsue today. I hope she recovers soon as I found this quite tricky for a SPP. I am hopeless at setter spotting, but with a couple of nice linked clues, I suspect this may be the work of Donnybrook.
A generous 16a and 16d clues and I have hinted half.
I’m providing hints for what I consider to be some of the harder clues. If you’re really stuck on one of the clues I haven’t hinted I may provide a bit more help. However, I have to take Mama Bee out shopping/coffee drinking so beware of the naughty step as no cake is available.
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Toughie No 3588 by Osmosis
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
We have a typical Osmosis puzzle with cunningly-disguised definitions, clever wordplay, nothing really obscure and a welcome lack of anagrams. I enjoyed the challenge – thanks to Osmosis.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31085
A full review by Rahmat Ali
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This puzzle was published on 15th November 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Kolkata. A slight tough but entertaining 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 31085 (Full Review)”
Toughie No 3587 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
The usual cleverness from Django. Some quirky little tricks, fun definitions and a riot of 80s reference – in (bar 28a!) a good way. All yours.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31089
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers.
No prizes for “Guess the Setter” this morning, so Senf can keep his toonies safely concealed at the back his sock drawer. This has all of RayT’s hallmarks: single word answers, single word answers and clues in the Quickie, a queen, a sweetheart and brevity of clueing at a fraction over five words/clue. It also displays his usual elegance and was a joy to solve, although I suspect he is being gentler than usual with us this morning. My podium comprises 1a, 29a and 1d. Which clues did you like?
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Many thanks to RayT and to the DT Crossword Team. BTW, I loved the Quickie pun!
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Toughie No 3586 by Hudson
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
CrypticSue is still convalescing from her knee op so you’re lumbered with me again; she’ll be sorry to have missed blogging this very enjoyable puzzle from Hudson to whom many thanks.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31088
Hints and Tips by Senf
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
A very good Wednesday morning from Winnipeg where ice is beginning to form on the rivers that run through the city. No c*ck-ups from me, all the hints are there, or the DT, the puzzle ‘appeared’ on time, today.
For me, etc© (I have to say that for Terence), a very enjoyable puzzle with a number of examples of clever misdirection. With sharing Wednesdays with Gazza I am losing track of the Wednesday setters so I just hope that today’s setter pops in to claim ownership.
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Toughie No 3585 by Dada
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning, fellow puzzlers.
Dada is being fairly gentle with us this morning, in an enjoyable and reasonably accessible Tuesday Toughie. My ticks were for the confused directors at 7a, the winter coat at 26a, the discarded drink at 3d and the primate at 5d.
In the blog below, the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED and the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the “Click Here” buttons. Please leave a comment telling us how you got on and what you thought of the puzzle.
Many thanks to Dada and to the DT Crossword Team.
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