Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27305
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment **
Hola from the Vega Baja. Yes, it’s me again and now that I’ve reached an age when I can be officially called a “grumpy old man” I’ll have a quick grump about this puzzle. It’s possibly a “wrong envelope” job, certainly not easy, although that might just be me after a long week of birthday partying. I don’t know who the setter is and after my record of spotting setters in the past that’s all I’m saying, apart from, if it’s RayT I’ll eat my hat!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27286
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. I must have been in just the right mood this morning as this was my quickest solve for quite a while. It was very enjoyable while it lasted but Sir Bradley would have been nowhere near the 10 mile mark!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27280
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola once more from the Vega Baja. I guess this is the surprise that BD mentioned last Wednesday, I wonder if Kath got it right. I’ve volunteered to help out while Scchua is away and Bufo is hors de combat so I’ll be around for a bit. After that who knows!
It’s a long time since I blogged a Wednesday puzzle and I see Jay still has the Wizardry! This is mostly straightforward but I found it quite a lot of fun – they don’t have to be hard to be enjoyable.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27113
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from a rather dank and dismal Vega Baja. The rain in Spain appears to fall mainly here!
I don’t think this is a Toughie that got into the wrong envelope but I have seen easier Toughies. I found it the trickiest back-pager for quite some time, but quite enjoyable once some of the pennies started to drop. I’m not going to guess who the setter is but suffice it to say that things started getting a little easier when I donned my “slightly mad hat”!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27107
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja! With my track record of spotting setters I’m keeping my big mouth shut on the subject, but I can guess who set this one!
Most of the mechanics of the puzzle are fairly straightforward but there are a couple of obscure words which had me scratching the head a little so I reckon 3* difficulty is about right. Very enjoyable even though a bit lacking in innuendo!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27101
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja! Well, thanks to the local hospital, I’m still alive and kicking and am now fit enough to bring my usual incompetence back to the blogger’s chair – so it looks like you’re stuck with me for a while longer.
I’d just like to repeat my heartfelt thanks to all of you. I was rather overcome by the outpouring of concern and good wishes that followed BD’s post about my illness. As Mary said the other day “who’d have thought a crossword blog could bring so much comfort?”
Anyway, on to the crossword. Check the date before you start this one as there are a few topical allusions, starting with 1a! It’s an odd puzzle to rate as most of it was 1* difficulty but there two or three clues that up the ante a bit, mostly in the bottom half. I’ve gone for 2* overall.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27054
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. I may be wrong but I reckon this is a RayT production, I think I’m beginning to spot his style. I found it not too difficult but very enjoyable. Not many anagrams, which is why I liked it, so I guess lots of you will disagree with my ratings!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27036
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Definitely another RayT this week. We have the Queen, Beam and plenty of innuendo! Most of this I found fairly straightforward, took me top end of 2* time, but there are a few head-scratchers so I’ve given it 3* for difficulty. Very enjoyable with a nice mix of clue types and six anagrams to get you going.
It will be interesting to hear what those who aren’t keen on RayT have to say!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27030
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the very noisy Vega Baja where a guy started up a pneumatic drill about 50m away at 0830 this morning. Didn’t help the concentration on what turned out to be an enjoyable RayT. I’m fairly confident that it’s him this week as we have the Queen, Beam (his Toughie pseudonym) and a bit of innuendo. I’ve gone for 2* overall but for me it was a puzzle of two halves. The top half was only 1* as I more-or-less just wrote in the answers but the bottom half was a 3* head-scratcher so, on average, 2* it is! Maybe it was the pneumatic drill which caused the problem – it’s now gone quiet but been replaced by what sounds like a rather large angle grinder!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27024
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja, where the weather has returned to normal service after about 10 days of pretty constant rain!
There’s a couple of tricky clues in this puzzle but otherwise a pretty solid 2* for me and a lot of fun, even at 0700. It’s worth the 4* enjoyment if only for 5d! Not sure about the setter but it might be RayT again, perhaps he’ll let us know. I can spot Jay a mile off but I’ve not blogged enough of RayT to be sure.
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