Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26886
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment *****
Hi, it’s me once again! Well, while the cat’s away . . . and it gives everyone else a day off!
This looks like a RayT to me and it’s a bit on the tricky side of being tricky on a day for very tricky crosswords! At least he’s put his risque head back on so quite a few laughs as the coinage eventually dropped but it’s not easy by any means. I’ll be interested to see what you think about it. I really thought it was a lot of fun though – I think BD may regret allowing me to blog this one! Don’t think I’ve ever gone to 5* for enjoyment before but I did think this was brill, and it got better as I wrote the review! I’m back in ‘middle of the night mode’ so it might not be as tricky as I thought but I’ll leave that for you to judge, I’m just going on my own solving time. I make no apologies for the 5* enjoyment though! What do they say – the best fun I’ve had with my clothes on!
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Toughie No 784 by Elkamere
A proper little Toughie?
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
No, I’ve not blogged the wrong puzzle by mistake! Gazza thought I might be at a loose end with Pommette being away so offered me the chance to do my first Toughie blog. I couldn’t refuse but it’s been a bit like sailing ‘Firenze’ across the Irish Sea in a force 8 gale – I could do it but I’m not sure I really needed the stress! The date is quite apposite for my first Toughie blog though – it’s the anniversary of D-Day! Oh well, Once more into the Bleach!
Today Elkamere has given us a middling difficulty Toughie with some fine clues. Due to a bout of on-the-day blogger’s panic I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have done but it grew on me as I was writing the review. It probably deserves the fourth star just for 1a.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26879
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. The usual excellent stuff to brighten up an already bright and sunny Wednesday morning! Maybe I’m just in a good mood today but I really enjoyed this puzzle even though it didn’t last long. As is often the case with a Jay puzzle it’s probably better to start with the downs – on first pass through I got 5 of the acrosses but then 12 of the downs and for once the two long anagrams fell quickly!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26873
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. Yet another fine puzzle from the Wednesday Wizard! It might have been only 1* but for the five long anagrams which I’m always slow at unravelling. Still, they do give a lot of checkers! If you’re a fan of anagrams (unlike me) I guess the puzzle would be 4* enjoyment.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26867
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja on a delightful sunny morning. In my opinion Jay’s on top form this morning and I really enjoyed this puzzle. Some excellent clues but enough ‘gimmes’ to get you going. For reasons unknown I found the SW corner to be the tricky bit so I’ll be interested to see if you agree.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26861
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja and welcome to my 50th blog – not exactly Sachin Tendulkar but a half century ain’t bad!
We have a rather unusual grid today with twelve sets of ‘double unches’ but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of another excellent Wednesday puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26849
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well, after last week’s walk in the park we have a pretty tricky puzzle from Jay this week. It was close to getting 4* but I clicked 13d just in time! I enjoyed the tussle! You don’t really need to start with the downs but it will help if you have your slightly American hat on today as several of the clues have a distinctly US flavour.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26843
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. I don’ t think anyone will be needing these hints today! This is by far the gentlest of all the Jay puzzles that I’ve blogged, easily my fasted solve, but quite enjoyable for all that. For once you don’t need to start with the downs! I got all but two of the across clues on first pass, (although I did get one wrong, d’oh!). Maybe I was just on good form and you’ll all disagree. It will be interesting to hear your views.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26837
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Mar Menor this week. I’m not at home today so I had to solve this online, so maybe that’s why I slipped into 3* time. In general it’s not that hard but there are a couple of tricky ones that had me scratching the head for a while. Hope you all remembered to start with the downs! Maybe it’s just me but it didn’t strike me as one of Jay’s most entertaining puzzles, or perhaps it’s because I had to do it outside on a rather chilly balcony as the dongle doesn’t work inside the apartment!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26831
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Today we have the usual fine stuff from Jay but I’m not sure how to rate it for difficulty. I solved it well within 2* time, so that’s what I’ve gone for, but while writing the review I started to think that there’s some tricky stuff in here so 3* may be more realistic. Please let me know what you think!
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