Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31050
Hints and tips by Smylers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ★⯨ – Enjoyment ★★★
Hello from Ilkley, where this year’s Ilkley Literature Festival has started. This weekend all four of us saw Gyles Brandreth on AA Milne; Spouse and I saw Stuart Maconie on The Beatles; and Spouse has also seen Rachel Joyce and Emma Freud, and a talk on the material world of Austen and the Brontës. The festival runs for another fortnight, during which time we’ll see Simon Armitage (Poet Laureate), Lady Hale (former Supreme Court Judge), and Jo Hamilton (wrongly convicted subpostmaster), among others less famous. Some events are streamed online, so you don’t even have to live nearby if you’d like to see them.
The festival was founded in 1973, with WH Auden appearing that year, making it the second-longest-running book festival in the UK. Quiz question for you: which is the longest-running?
Today’s Telegraph crossword has a helpful grid and contains no obscure vocabulary, but it took me a while to decode some of the wordplay and cryptic definitions. Hints, explanations, and hidden answers are below.
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Toughie No 3560 by Elgar
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****
Elgar’s Proper Friday Toughie is a pangram, which may or may not help you finish solving the puzzle. Some nice helpful four-letter solutions together with a few longer ones that did take quite a bit of thought and muttering to parse!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31043
A full review by crypticsue
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This puzzle was published on 27th September 2025
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
A splendid Saturday Prize Puzzle
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Toughie No 3559 by Django
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty * – Enjoyment ***/****
It’s always a treat to see Django’s byline. And I was delighted to see a flash of his old wordiness crop up in 8d. My clue of the day and yet more proof that – as long as the surface merits it – length is not our enemy! All yours.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31047
Hints and tips by Shabbo
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Good morning, fellow puzzlers.
I really enjoyed this delightful puzzle, which induced plenty of smiles and a couple of laughs along the way. My ticks are for 18a, 21a, 25a, 4d, 13d and 17d. I would be interested to hear what you think, dear reader.
21a is particularly apposite for me. In 2019, our son set up a laser tattoo removal business in St Albans, which I am pleased to say is going really well. I desperately tried to persuade him to adopt a pig as his logo. Once you have solved 21a, you might understand why! He rightly argued that not everyone has a warped crossword brain like mine. Good point, well made.
Must dash – I’m now off to help at a charity golf day at Knebworth GC in support of Wooden Spoon – a rugby based charity supporting disadvantaged children. If there are mistakes in the blog, I can only apologise.
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 our setter and to the DT Crossword Team.
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EV1713
Lost in Translation by Nudd
Solution
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Toughie No 3558 by Hudson
Hints and Tips by crypticsue
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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty * – Enjoyment *****
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31046
Hints and Tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****
A step up in difficulty from the last two days but very enjoyable – thanks to our setter.
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Sunday Toughie No 191 by Zandio
Review by
Sloop John Bee
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This puzzle was published on the 21st September 2025
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