Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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You have reached the world’s biggest and best crossword blog. If you are looking for help with the Daily and Sunday Telegraph cryptic crosswords or the Enigmatic Variations advanced cryptic, a total of 13 puzzles a week, then you have come to the right place.
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where I and well over 5000 other homeowners are still cleaning up after the deluge on July 1. The bizarre aspect of the storm is the vastly different rainfall in various parts of the city. Some areas received more than 11 inches of rain in two or three hours while other areas received scarcely more than half an inch.
I found today’s puzzle a slight step up in difficulty from the usual standard for Monday but I may just have been overly tired from all my cleanup chores this week.
I’m afraid there are no illustrations this week. Every attempt at uploading an image was met with an error message from the server.
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.
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Sunday Toughie No 234
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Lots of films, birds, dogs and a little bit of Welsh – Suo Gân from Light today
I enjoyed this and would have liked to hint more, but as it is a prize puzzle, I have tried to restrain myself.
I hope you find the checkers to finish, but I will try to give a nudge if shopping and coffee permit
Don’t forget you are all invited to the Old Joint Stock next Saturday
Here we go, Folks…
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Raffles is the name of the cricketer and gentleman thief created by Ernest Hornung, the brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle.
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A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg where it is now wildfire season to the North and we are beginning to experience poor air quality from drifting smoke which, much to their chagrin, we are ‘sharing’ with our neighbours to the South!.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada again quirkily friendly with perhaps some lateral thinking required and one very stretched synonym – four long ‘uns, seven anagrams (three partials), one reversed lurker, and one homophone, all in a symmetric 28 clues; with 14 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
A Mid-Year Bash 17.5 is on! (Thanks Smylers)
25th July 2026
A reminder that all are invited to the get-together at The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham this Saturday. I originally booked for shared use of The Mezzanine, but we may be relocating to The Chatwin Room depending on numbers.… Continue reading
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Toughie No 3724 by Dharma
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Enjoyable but very gentle for a Friday Toughie – thanks to Dharma. Having a single 3-letter anagram did seem slightly odd and I wondered whether there had been a last-minute change to what had been intended to be an anagram-free puzzle.
Continue reading “Toughie 3724”
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BD Rating - Difficulty **** - Enjoyment ***
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Friday. I found today’s grid fill fairly straightforward, but parsing some clues took some serious head-scratching. Perhaps I’m just tired. I have just installed a new plug-in that restores comment editing and deletion following the recent upgrade to the site’s core software, so feel free to type fast and correct up to 8 minutes later. Continue reading "DT 31294"