Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30732
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí. I haven’t a clue how many of these blogs I’ve written over the years but it must be a few hundred by now and this is the first time I’ve ever had to do one on my birthday! Yep, counting in hexadecimal I am 47 today!
Today we have another example of what has become the norm for a Monday puzzle. It’s very well crafted and has a touch of humour but it won’t frighten the horses at all.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30720
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where autumn is definitely on its way. Last Friday was the first day since late June that the temperature failed to top 30°C which was a very welcome change.
Today we have another splendid Monday puzzle. Two weeks ago I only missed two of the across clues but this week I’ve done better by solving every clue in order. There are some quite elegant bits of wordplay and more than a few smiles so, even though it was short, it was enjoyable while it lasted.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30708
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where summer is on the wane. We were forecast some rain yesterday but it never materialised and today is looking pretty good too but without the searing heat of a couple of weeks ago.
Today we have another splendid Monday puzzle. I can only give it * for difficulty as I missed just two of the acrosses on first pass and then got every one of the downs, but it was fun while it lasted.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30696
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where summer continues, although we had the mother of all thunderstorms last week! Still, normal service was soon resumed and at least we didn’t get a flood.
Here we have another splendid Monday puzzle which I found a tad trickier than recent offerings. Maybe that’s just me suffering from brain fade after the long hot summer. I’ll be interested to see if many of you agree.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30684
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Hola from Almoradí where things are now quieting down after the Fiesta. There were four parades last week culminating in the Moors and then the Christians on Friday and Saturday evenings. It’s all very spectacular but very loud with brass bands and drummers and they go on very late. The downside is that they start in the street right outside our apartment! At least we get a good view from our balcony!
Maybe it’s just me having a good day but I found today’s puzzle to be the easiest back-pager for quite some time. I only missed one of the acrosses (19a) on first pass and then got all the downs. I’ll be interested to see who found it the same.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30678
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí on an overcast and muggy morning. I do believe we might be in for some rather overdue rain! In view of the various different levels of heat we get here in the summer pommette has come up with a new scale: 25-29°C = warm, 30-34 = hot, 35-39 = bl’ot and 40+ = f’ot. I’ll leave it to you to fill in the missing letters! Just now it’s at the top end of warm but it’s forecast to get bl’ot this afternoon!
Here we have another splendid Monday puzzle which I don’t think will frighten many horses. The hints are below just in case they’re needed but I suspect not.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30672
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where summer is in full swing and last Saturday the temperature apparently topped out at 39.4°C! Phew, that was Hot with a capital H!
Today we have another excellent Monday offering which I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. There’s only five clues involving anagrams this week but there are enough gimmes to get you going.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30654
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí and a happy Canada Day to one and all. Falcon fancied the evening off as there are some festive things going on in Ottawa to celebrate Canada’s National Day so you’ve got me again!
I’ve given today’s puzzle an extra star for difficulty because, tucked away among the usual fairly benign stuff, there are a couple of real head scratchers. Just as enjoyable as the normal Monday fare so I hope you all get on with it. I have to say thanks to the setter for the excuse to include a couple of songs from Simon and Garfunkel!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30642
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí on a very warm and muggy morning. I think we’re in for a hot one today!
It’s really Falcon’s turn today but he’s otherwise engaged so I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with me instead. I’ll be back next week as well!
Today’s puzzle is another example of what is fast becoming the normal Monday fare. Not too hard and with seven clues involving anagrams, a couple of lurkers and a few gimmes there’s plenty of ways in. Very enjoyable with some very smooth surfaces.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30636
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from Almoradí where summer has now arrived. We had 34°C yesterday and it’s staying around 20°C overnight. We had the A/C on to cool our bedroom last night before getting on the bed without a sheet over us.
I think today’s puzzle is by the same setter as the last one I blogged two weeks ago. Like that puzzle it’s not too difficult and there’s a couple of gimmes and six anagrams to get you off to a good start. Again, I don’t think many of you will need these hints.
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