Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29312
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the locked down Vega Baja. At the risk of incurring a large fine I’m not allowed out of my house for any reason apart from essential journeys. These include trips to food stores, pharmacies, banks, petrol stations, tobacco shops and, bizarrely, hairdressers and dry cleaners. Apparently, if you’re going suffer from coronavirus in Spain it’s important to have a smart hairdo and a clean suit. Actually there’s not much point in going out as all bars and restaurants are closed. I think I’m going to be doing a lot of crosswords.
On to the puzzle. I’m not sure but I don’t think I’ve ever blogged a Monday puzzle before so it’s been a bit of a new experience for me. It wasn’t too difficult but a couple of tricky bits to keep us on our toes. A few anagrams and a few gimmes to give a good start so I don’t think many of you will be needing these hints.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29303
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where spring appears to have sprung. After a couple of days in the UK last weekend when we had rain, hail, wind, snow on the Malvern hills and even some sunshine it’s nice to be back to normal.
I’m pretty sure today’s offering is a RayT as many of his hallmarks are here and nobody else can stretch a synonym the way he can. You can probably hear the squeals of some of the ones here. I found it a bit tricky in places, but not impossible, and it was quite enjoyable when some of the pennies dropped. I’m sure many of you will disagree one way or another.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29285
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where the unseasonably warm weather continues. Normal service is forecast for next week though so I’m enjoying the warmth while I can.
I don’t know the setter of today’s puzzle and the style felt unfamiliar so perhaps we have another new setter. It’s not too hard and there seem to be a lot of anagrams or partial anagrams so I know a lot of you will be pleased. There’s quite a bit of chestnutty stuff and a couple of definitions that don’t quite work for me but overall I quite enjoyed it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29273
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where we’re having an unseasonably warm spell of weather. It got up to 21°C yesterday and it’s forecast for 23°C over the weekend. Not usually this warm in January so I guess we’ll have to pay for it next month.
I may be wrong but I get the feeling that we might have a new setter today as the style of this puzzle didn’t ring any bells with me at all. Maybe I just wasn’t on the wavelength but I found it a tricky little rascal. There’s a few gimmes and a few anagrams to get a start but then there’s other clues made of sterner stuff. It will be interesting to hear your take on it. Continue reading “DT 29273”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29261
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where it’s a bit chilly but bright and sunny but with rain forecast for the weekend. I’m a bit twitchy about rain at the moment so I hope it’s not of biblical proportions!
I don’t know who today’s setter is apart from I’d venture it isn’t proXimal. It certainly didn’t frighten the horses and I was going to go for just * difficulty after I got seven acrosses and then fourteen downs on first pass. However a couple of the rest held out a bit so ** it is for me. There are five reasonably lengthy anagrams to give a lot of checkers so I don’t expect many of you will have had much trouble. Continue reading “DT 29261”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29249
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja and Feliz Año Nuevo a todos. I seem to have survived Christmas and the New Year relatively intact so it’s just Kings to go over the coming weekend then it’s back to normal. Hope you all enjoyed the festive season too.
I’m not sure who today’s setter is but I don’t think it’s RayT. It’s his turn this week but in this puzzle there are nine clues with nine or more words and the quick crossword is full of multi-word clues. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m proved wrong though as my record of setter spotting is far from good. I found it a bit tricky in places so it will be interesting to see if you all agree.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29238
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where things continue to improve as we now have all three bedrooms completely fettled. Now to tackle the lounge but that will have to wait until after Christmas as we’re off to Benidorm for a few days R&R on Monday.
As to the crossword I’m pretty sure it’s a RayT and I thought it mostly at the easier end of his spectrum with some real gimmes. However, in amongst the fairly straightforward majority of clues there are a handful of tricky little rascals, and what was for me a new word, so it has managed to avoid the shame of only getting a * rating. I’m sure a lot of you will disagree and it will be interesting to see what you made of it. Continue reading “DT 29238”
Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29232
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, things have moved on a bit here. We now have new doors on the bedrooms and bathroom and a fully functional kitchen. The master bedroom is finished so all I have to do now is redecorate the rest of the house. Deep joy!
Anyway, on to the crossword which I’m pretty sure is a proXimal production as it’s a pangram bar an X. I found it at the easier end of his range and I got 10 of the acrosses on first pass. A couple held me up a bit (25a for example) so we slipped into ** time. I’ll be interested to see what you all thought of it.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29220
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, things have moved on a bit. We now have wardrobes fitted and the guys have started on the kitchen about an hour ago so we might get a bit of normality by the end of next week.
It may just be the hammering and banging going on that caused the problem but I found today’s puzzle a tad on the tricky side. I’m pretty sure it’s a proXimal production as it felt like his work while I was solving and it’s turned out to be a pangram without an X, which has become a bit of a trade mark for him. I really enjoyed the 28a and hope that you all do too.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29214
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ***– Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where life is slowly getting back to normal after the flood. We have a plasterer coming today to repair the walls now they’ve dried out and then we can start to install the new furniture. Kitchen was ripped out yesterday but won’t be replaced until next week so I think quite a lot of meals in the local bar over the next few days.
As to the crossword I’m pretty sure it’s a RayT production as all the signs are there. It was a lot of fun but gets the third difficulty star because of the NE corner which caused me a bit of trouble for some reason. I think it was the flash car that threw me for a while. I’ll be interested to see what you guys made of it.
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