Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30042
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where summer continues but I see from the weather forecasts that England may well be hotter than here for the next day or so. We’re forecast for a mere 34°C today but I hear England may break its high temp record and top 40°C. Take care everyone, temps over 40°C can be dangerous.
Today we have the usual Monday fare but with a couple of unusual words so I’ve gone for *** difficulty, although if you know the words it’s pretty benign. There’s only one anagram, and three partials, so you’ll have to do it the hard way without the free checkers.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30030
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where July has arrived with a bang. As I write this it’s only 0900 and the temperature is already 28°C with a top of 32°C forecast for this afternoon.
Today we have a typical Monday puzzle which is mostly fairly easy but with a handful of head scratchers. There are seven anagrams and some of them are quite long so if you can crack them you’ll get a load of checkers to get you going. I don’t think many of you will be needing these hints.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30018
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the heatwave may be coming to an end at last! Forecast is for only (only!) 33°C today and similar for the rest of the week. That’s still hotter than usual for mid-June but a relief after the last week or so of crazy temperatures. Suffice it to say that I was in Granada last week and the temperature was 42°C for three days running. That’s unheard of in mid-June and even unusual for late July or early August!
Anyway, on to the puzzle. It is what, for me, has become a classic Monday. It’s elegantly clued and not too hard but with a couple of tricky ones in the mix to keep us all on our toes. It was a great welcome back to crosswordland after ten days away on hols. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30000
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment *****
Hola from the Vega Baja where summer is in full swing with 30+ temps every day this week. Falcon was without electricity for six days after the storm and still has no internet, telephone or TV. Must have been a hell of a storm! That means you’ve got me again this week so I hope you’re not too disappointed.
As to the puzzle, of course it’s a landmark. It’s Daily Telegraph number 30,000 and that’s a hell of a lot of puzzles! There’s a Nina around the outside of the grid to mark the number and I reckon this is one of the best Monday puzzles for some time. It’s not too hard and it hasn’t needed a load of obscure words to get the Nina in place. I thought it was great and look forward to your thoughts.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29994
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the weather is a lot better than it’s been in Ottawa. I’m here again this week because Falcon is without electricity after a massive storm, with 130km/hr winds, hit the province of Ontario and knocked out the power to hundreds of thousands of people, including him.
There seems to be a bit of a literary theme to today’s puzzle. We have two famous novels, an actress, a pair of comedy actors and a dramatist. It’s not too difficult but certainly not at the easy end of the spectrum.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29988
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where summer seems to have arrived at last. After the wettest March on record and a pretty chilly April the sun has recently come out and temperatures are up in the high twenties every afternoon. I’ve mothballed my long trousers and socks and got out the shorts and sandals.
I’m wondering if today’s puzzle is from a different setter from our usual maestro. Somehow it felt a bit different and I can’t see a second pun in the Quickie, but someone will probably put me right on that. Anyway it was enjoyable enough and with six anagrams it’s fairly easy to get a toehold. I’ll be interested to see if anyone else feels the same as me about the setter.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29976
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja and a happy holiday to one and all.
Maybe it’s just me but I thought our Monday Maestro had turned up the wick a touch this week. Very enjoyable with the usual elegant cluing and a couple of fifteen letter anagrams to please those who like that sort of thing.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29964
Hints and tips by Pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where spring seems to have sprung at last! We’re due more rain on Wednesday but the temperature is forecast to top 20°C every day this week.
Thankfully, today’s crossie seems to be back to the Monday norm, not too hard and with elegant clueing. I really enjoyed it and hope you all did too. There’s only two complete anagrams and three clues involving an anagram so I know some of you will be a bit unhappy
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 29952
Hints and tips by Pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja where the chilly and wet weather is still continuing. We’ve just had the wettest March since weather records began and the rain is forecast to continue this week. I suppose we’ll eventually get back to normal service but it’s anyone’s guess when that will be.
I can’t put my finger on why but for some reason today’s puzzles didn’t seem to have the sparkle I’ve come to expect on a Monday. Perhaps I’m just being a bit grumpy this morning due to the bad weather!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic 29940
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the chilly and wet weather is continuing. We have a forecast of light rain for the whole week which will please a lot of people as there is an official drought in Spain due to the unusually dry winter we’ve had. Hopefully normal service will be resumed next week.
I thought today’s crossie was up to the usual standard we’ve come to expect on a Monday but was at the rather easy end of the spectrum. I got ten of the acrosses and all but two of the downs on first pass so * seems about right for the difficulty level. There are six full anagrams and two other clues that involve an anagram so there’s plenty of ways into the puzzle. I don’t think many of you will need any hints today.
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