Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26513
Hints and tips by Pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Apologies for being a little late this morning but there has been something of a panic in the pommers household! I got the clues for this last night but not the grid. Telegraph puzzles wouldn’t let me in this morning so I started trying to solve it ‘cold’! Managed about half before Gnomethang came to the rescue so many thanks to him! I’d never have got some of these without the checking letters. Then to cap it all I lost my internet connection for about half an hour!
The usual excellent Wednesday puzzle (presumably from Jay) which I can’t say I’ve done justice to because of the problems.
I’m sure you will enjoy it more than I did – think I’ll go for a lie down now!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26507
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Today we get a good solid offering from Jay (I presume), one which (if I may borrow a phrase) could be described as a Goldilocks puzzle – not too easy, not too hard, but perhaps just right (depending on how you like your porridge, of course). While there are no clues that really stand out, there are no stinkers either. However, there is a rather hearty serving of charades.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26501
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
The usual Wednesday Wizardry from Jay. I found it a quicker solve than last week’s as there aren’t any 13 letter anagrams and the ones that are here dropped out neatly this morning. So 2* for difficulty but 4* for enjoyment. I toyed with the idea of giving 5* but next week’s may be even better and then what would I do? I don’t think there’s a poor clue in this puzzle but my favourites are highlighted in blue.
As has been said before, some of these clues are much harder to write hints for than to solve!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26495
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Once more unto the breach dear friends! Another nice Wednesday puzzle, presumably from Jay, with the usual couple of tricky clues to make one think.
While I was solving this one I thought 2* but looking at my time I have to give it 3*. There are a couple of long anagrams which aren’t hard clues to crack but they always slow me down so perhaps the 2* is more accurate. Be interested to see what others think.
Thanks again to the Technical Director for the photos and funny video.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26489
Hints and tips by Pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
[The latest addition to our blogging team is someone who should already be well-known by all. No less than pommers, ably assisted in the technical department by pommette, faces, as he described it yesterday, his “baptism of fire”. He really had no need to worry, as I’m sure you will agree when you have read his review. BD]
Woke up this morning a bit nervous as it’s my debut in the Land of Blog!
All sorts of questions – What happens if I can’t solve the crossword? or don’t understand some of the wordplay? or worse – the DT crossword editor has an aberration and accidently publishes an Elgar Toughie as today’s cryptic! Aargh!
I needn’t have worried as the Wednesday Wizard has come up trumps once again!
A nice mix of clues and some which make one think a bit. I’ve given it 3* for overall difficulty (based on my solving time) but there are a few clues definitely in the 4* category. I’ve marked my favourites in blue.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26483
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
While I enjoyed this puzzle and was able to complete it fairly readily, I found it considerably more of a challenge to review. I found that the clues ran the gamut – from quite simple to very tricky. For a while I thought it might merit 2* for difficulty, but a few clues whose wordplay left me scratching my head for quite some time caused me to rethink the rating.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26477
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
We keep asking Jay for more of the same and he keeps delivering.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26471
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Another fine puzzle from our Wednesday Wizard. Keep them coming, Jay.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26465
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I had the great pleasure to meet Jay last Saturday. I hope he will let us all out of our agony and tell us whether he finally managed to catch a train home after narrowly missing the first one! By the way there are a couple of pictures of our Wednesday Wizard on the blog’s facebook page (see link in the side panel).
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26459
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Today we have a solid puzzle with a fairly good mix of clue types. One clue, in particular, I found especially enjoyable – that being the one dealing with the Peers of the Realm. If it is original, I am sure many others likely enjoyed it also. If not new, then it is one to be savored by those of us relatively new to this pastime.
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