Solutions – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

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Toughie 3751

by ALP  

Toughie No 3751 by Karla
Hints and tips by ALP

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BD Rating – Toughie difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****

Breezy, elegant and fair. Nowt outré. Only 18a’s “granny possibly” and 15d’s “right” caused the very briefest of pauses. Karla does like to sign his work and today is no exception – just look for a K down below and meander upwards. Knowing him, he may well have secreted summat else in there but, if so, I didn’t clock it! The floor’s all yours.

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Toughie 3750

by crypticsue  

Toughie No 3750 by Donnybrook

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****

This turned out to be tougher than I expected when I saw the setter’s name (shown correctly in the newspaper but originally on line showing the setter’s real name rather than his pseudonym)  I think a fair amount of that can be attributed to working out what was going on in 3d/6a, especially as I hadn’t heard of the 9a 26a.  One of those crosswords that was easier to explain then to solve

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DT 31334

by Deansleigh  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31334
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 found today’s puzzle quite challenging – an excellent Wednesday workout.  My favourite from a plethora of fine clues is the naked president in 22a.  I also enjoyed the Quickie pun.  Many thanks to our setter.

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ST 3383 (Full Review)

by Rahmat Ali  

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3383

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 23rd August 2026

BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****

Greetings from Kolkata. An excellent, straightforward Sunday prize puzzle from Dada that I enjoyed solving and thereafter writing a full review of the same for your kind perusal and important feedback. Continue reading “ST 3383 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3749

by Whybird  

Toughie No 3749 by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Whybird

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BD Rating – Difficulty  **  – Enjoyment ****

We have an enjoyable start to the Toughie Week with Chalicea being somewhat less benign than usual.  I also didn’t help myself by mistakenly opening the Back-pager on the iPad (my dead tree being a little late today) and thinking we had an extreme Floughie, then realising that the clues I had already pasted into the Blog on my PC didn’t match my short-term recall, twigging my stupidity and having to start again.  At least by this time, the dead tree had arrived so I was safe in analogue-land. The Present Lady Whybird is considering blocking me from the internet for our mutual safety.  It was very interesting to experience the contrast in styles in back-to-back fashion and I felt it made solving Chalicea’s puzzle more difficult.

There are plenty of clues that get honourable mentions, including 1d, 4d, 6a, 7d, 16a and 19d, but I’m giving my top prize today to 3d.

Thanks, Chalicea, for a fun start to the week.

Please let us know how you fared and what you thought of the puzzle. 

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DT 31333

by Huntsman  

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31333

Hints and tips by Huntsman

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BD Rating – Difficulty *  Enjoyment ***

The sun is shining here in Harpenden but a walk will have to wait as I’m off back to bed to catch up on some much needed kip. Yesterday was a full on day of golf followed by a very pleasant early evening meal at a Turkish restaurant near my course then the trek into Hammersmith to see The Black Keys. Suffice to say I was finally in bed much later than is ideal when you have to get up & write the blog.

As ever with one of AP’s Tuesday puzzles tightly clued & not overly taxing fortunately – on a par with yesterday in terms of difficulty.

I’ve not had a chance to look at it but I see Chalicea is over in t’other place. I’m sure that will be an accessible puzzle well worth having a stab at & Whybird will appreciate your thoughts on it.

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.

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