Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27273
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs, on an overcast morning with the promise of some warmth to come. We’re trying to cope with the autumn glut of fruit at the moment: there’s a huge crop of plums this year, as well as vast quantities of blackberries.
I found this a straightforward ** solve. There is some repetition of wordplay elements – 10a and 20d, and 2d and 3d, which I found disappointing.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27267
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs, where the sun is trying to break through a layer of cloud.
For me this was just on the border between * and ** difficulty, with just a couple of slightly unusual words tipping it towards **.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27261
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs on a bright morning.
I found this to be at the top end of ** time, with quite a few bits of general knowledge needed to understand the wordplay.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27249
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs where the day has started bright and sunny.
A gentle but fun crossword today, I thought. The Quick Crossword held me up for longer.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27243
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from Bellingham in Northumberland, where we’re sending a few days in the caravan, enjoying the sunshine between the torrential downpours. The broadband connection here is glacially slow, so no pictures or videos this week.
This puzzle took me a little longer than I expected, with 12a being last in. But once I’d finished I wondered why it had taken so long…
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27237
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs, where a thunderstorm has just cleared the air, and the house and garden are returning to normal after the weekend’s Ruby Wedding celebrations. Thanks to all those who sent best wishes last week.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27231
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment **
Good morning from South Staffs on another beautiful sunny morning. Fingers crossed that the fine spell lasts until the weekend, when Mrs DT and I will be celebrating our ruby wedding with a family party in the garden.
I finished this puzzle in ** time, but found it less enjoyable than usual. Several definitions would do just as well in a General Knowledge crossword, and some bits of wordplay also seemed to require more than could be gleaned from the clue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27225
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from a bright sunny South Staffs, with another hot day in prospect.
I started slowly on this one, but then things fell into place and I finished in ** time.
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Toughie No 1006 by Excalibur
Potato’s, Tomato’s and Apricot’s
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good afternoon from South Staffs, on an overcast day, with rain forecast for later.
A gentle start to the Toughie week. I liked 14d.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27213
Hints and tips by Deep Threat
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Good morning from South Staffs where the day has started bright and sunny: I doubt it will last.
I found the top half more difficult to get into than the bottom half, but once I had a foothold things fell into place, and I finished in ** time.
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