Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31362
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where there is no doubt that fall has arrived and the autumn leaves can be seen in their full splendour. In Canada, we interchangeably use the terms fall (a term that apparently was once in use in the UK and brought to North America by early British settlers) and autumn (seemingly a word of French origin that appears to have totally supplanted the word fall in the UK to the point that Brits think fall is an Americanism).
Fortunately, today’s challenge was not too difficult as I was labouring to complete it while distracted by other matters. I suspect it may be the work of Heron; I should know in the morning (it’s still Sunday evening in Ottawa as I write this) as she usually claims ownership of her puzzles on Bluesky.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31350
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa, where summer is fast coming to a close – not only according to the calendar but the thermometer as well. Overnight temperatures are well into single digits and flirting with the frost threshold.
I’m once again doing back to back reviews as Smylers has graciously agreed to swap assignments so I can attend an event next week.
The swap is also timely in that today’s review marks a milestone for me as I have now completed my sixteenth year of contributions to this blog, my first review having appeared on September 15, 2010.
As has been mentioned earlier this week, several Canadian provinces will not revert to Standard Time this fall but continue on Daylight Saving Time year round. Ontario will not be one of them, although I understand that Ontario has passed legislation to do away with changing the clocks but is waiting to implement the change until Quebec and New York state decide to do likewise. I suspect a major reason for the delay is to keep the Toronto, Montreal and New York stock exchanges in sync. I also understand that the U.S. Congress is currently considering the matter. Undoubtedly, the politicians in their infinite wisdom will choose Daylight Time despite all scientific and medical evidence showing that Standard Time would clearly be preferable for a host of reasons.
Although still a gentle start to the week, I found this puzzle to be a slight step up in difficulty from the last couple of puzzles I blogged. There appear to be three setters sharing the Monday slot. I’m going to hazard a guess that this one is from Weatherman. If I’m wrong, Heron will likely claim it on Bluesky if it’s one of hers and X-Type sometimes drops in here to take credit for his creations.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31344
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa, where I have enjoyed a beautiful late summer weekend. Sadly, my time spent here will soon come to end and I will close it up until spring.
Once again, we have a gentle, fun puzzle to warm up the little grey cells to face the challenges headed our way later in the week. I’ll be checking Bluesky in the morning to see if it is the work of the setter I suspect.
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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31326
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from my lakeside retreat near Ottawa where summer is gradually beginning to edge toward the wings and I am trying hard to enjoy what little is left before it leaves the stage entirely.
While I have successfully called the setters on a couple of recent puzzles, I don’t believe I’ll press my luck today. I think most solvers will find today’s offering is well-suited to the level of difficulty we expect to start 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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31314
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31308
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31296
Hints and tips by Falcon
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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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31284
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31272
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
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.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31260
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
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.
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