Telegraph – Page 12 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 31192

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31192

Hints and tips by Mr K

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BD Rating  -  Difficulty *** Enjoyment ****

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I thought this puzzle was just excellent, with many penny drop moments encountered either finding the answers or parsing the wordplay.  Continue reading "DT 31192"

Toughie 3655

Toughie No 3655 by Bandit
Hints and tips by ALP

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

Bandit makes a welcome second appearance with yet more cleverness and truly immaculate surfaces. A dollop of history (huzzah!) and a smidgeon of science (boo!) but all very fairly clued. All yours.

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Toughie 3654

Toughie  No 3654 by Django

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

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

As usual, Django provides another very entertaining mid-week level Toughie. … Continue reading

DT 31190

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31190
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 relatively gentle for a Wednesday: I was heading for my quickest solve of the week, until the app inexplicably threw all my answers away and I had to start again.  There are several culinary references today, which left me feeling quite peckish.  There is also an excellent Quickie pun.  Amongst my favourite clues were 4a, 16a, 24a and 14d, but my top spot goes to the topical 4d.  Many thanks to today’s setter.

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ST 3359 (Full Review)

Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3359

A full review by Rahmat Ali

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This puzzle was published on 8th March 2026

BD Rating – Difficulty ***Enjoyment ***

Greetings from Kolkata. This Sunday, Dada set a slightly tough puzzle that I enjoyed solving. I have also written a full review of it for your kind perusal and valuable feedback. Continue reading “ST 3359 (Full Review)”

Toughie 3653

Toughie No 3653 by Shabbo
Hints and tips by Whybird

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

We have another excellent puzzle from Shabbo today.  Absolutely perfect for a Tuesday, plenty to get stuck into, but nothing outrageously difficult or obscure. I thought it was going to be a struggle when I looked at 1a and that pesky question mark, and indeed it took quite a while before I managed to get a proper foothold in the North, the South going in much more easily.  So definitely a Crossword of Two Halves for me, but still done in just a smidge over one-star time. The main difficulty factor came from Shabbo’s very clever surfaces and deceptions which I really enjoyed unpicking.  Thanks, Shabbo, please keep spoiling us!

I have a host of favourites today -1a, 3d, 5d, 9a, 14d, 17d and 26a are all excellent.  I’m going to need a bigger podium!

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

Continue reading “Toughie 3653”