Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where we have had a beautiful sunny Sunday. No, you did not sleep through a whole week. I’m back this week while Smylers enjoys a holiday road trip with his family.
Today’s puzzle is perfectly pitched for a Monday although some solvers may be caught out by a few rather whimsical definitions. I’m wondering whether this might be an X-Type creation (as usual my predictions are subject to the caveat that they are usually wrong).
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa, where our mid-summer long weekend has proven to be, for the most part, a cloudy and rainy affair. This follows on the heels of July which, if I recall correctly, has been reported to be the second wettest on record. However, this paints a bit of a misleading impression of the month as most of the rain fell in the span of about 3 hours on a single day (July 1).
Today’s puzzle should serve as a gentle mental warmup to get the little grey cells prepared for the more challenging workouts likely to ensue as the week progresses. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the puzzle may be the handiwork of Heron. Be aware though, that my track record at identifying setters is dismal, at best.
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.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa where we seem to have followed in the footsteps of those of you on the other side of the pond and have recently been enduring temperatures above 30 degrees C. On Canada Day, July 1, a storm dumped nearly 5 inches of rain on Ottawa in a couple of hours resulting in widespread flooding and the cancellation of all afternoon and evening festivities on our national holiday. Among the casualties was my basement which experienced a sewer backup. I now have a mountain of sewage contaminated material sitting on my front lawn awaiting pickup.
I won’t even attempt to guess the identity of today’s setter but, whoever it may be. has given us a gentle and fun introduction to the crossword solving week.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where an overcast, rainy Saturday gave way to a warm, sunny Sunday.
Today we have the expected introductory gentle warmup to ease us into this week’s slate of puzzles.
I must give a shout out to Senf who came to my rescue on the Quickie pun. I discover I have been mispronouncing the answer my entire lifetime.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa, where I expect to spend the day relaxing in the warm sunshine following a cool, rainy weekend.
Today’s puzzle, a gentle mental exercise, eases us into our weekly solving schedule.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa, where we are having a strange spring. Temperatures reach the low 20°C range in the daytime only to drop to near 0°C overnight. However, the coming week promises more seasonal conditions and I am looking forward to being able to spend time at my lakeside retreat.
On my last appearance, I promised a more complete look at our tulips which the following 15 minute video should certainly provide. In the previous blog, I was wrong on one point though: the Tulip Festival wrapped up a week ago and not yesterday as I stated then.
Today’s puzzle provides a welcome respite following the grueling mental challenges of the last few days. A chance to refresh the little grey cells in preparation for what surely lies in wait later in the week.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa, where spring must be here as the annual Canadian Tulip Festival has begun. We are being honoured this year with a visit by Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. During the Second World War, the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in Ottawa and Princess Margriet was born here (part of the hospital was temporarily declared to be Dutch soil to ensure she had sole Dutch citizenship). As a token of appreciation for providing wartime shelter to the Royal Family as well as for Canada’s lead role in the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the war, the Netherlands gifted Canada 100,00 tulip bulbs and continues to gift 20,000 tulip bulbs each year. These constitute part of the approximately 1 million tulips in bloom across Ottawa.
The puzzle today is the expected gentle warmup to the week but provides plenty of enjoyment, especially to those who are fond of anagrams and charades. Two weeks ago, the puzzle was set by X-Type and he said he expected to return in May. However, I don’t think this is one of his but I’m not confident enough to risk one of my shiny new King Charles loonies.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa, where spring has finally arrived – about a month later than the calendar would have one believe. In Canada, spring is Stanley Cup Playoffs season, the competition for the championship of the National Hockey League. I can now well empathize with those on the blog who have lately been bemoaning the fate of their favourite football clubs. The hockey team I root for, the Ottawa Senators, had a dismal start to the season falling to near the bottom of the league. The second half of the season was the polar opposite – the team had one of the best (if not the best) records in the league allowing them to barely squeak into the playoffs. However, that was the end of the fairy tale season and they fell in four straight games in round one.
Today’s puzzle provided a fairly gentle mental workout to prepare us for the more demanding offerings we will undoubtedly encounter later in the week. UK solvers likely had a bit of an edge on me as it took a few extra minutes to sort out the character from the British children’s novel with whom I was not familiar. As for the setter, the Monday rotation appears to be Weatherman twice a month (on Smyler’s shift) with Heron once a month and the remaining position (today) filled by a mystery setter or setters.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.
Greetings from Ottawa, where it is finally beginning to feel like spring with day time temperatures reaching the mid to high teens and overnight lows, for the most part, staying above the freezing point.
Perhaps I’m having an off day but I found this puzzle considerably more difficult than I am accustomed to on Monday. The east went in fairly smoothly though not quickly but I struggled in the west.
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.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.