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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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26825
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja where the weather has been great for the last few days – it’s been nearly as warm as the UK!
Today we have the usual great stuff from the Wednesday Wizard and with the added bonus that it’s a pangram. I think this is the first one Jay’s produced since I started doing the Wednesday blog – unless there’s been one I missed or have forgotten about! It didn’t help me much as I’d got all the obscure letters before twigging. It’s mostly straightforward, with a few anagrams nicely spread around the grid to get you going, but there’s a few I think will cause a bit of head-scratching.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26819
The Rain in Spain …
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Due to heavy rain in Spain, Pommers has temporarily lost his Internet connection, giving me the chance to review this puzzle from Jay. Many of you will find it to be light relief after yesterday’s puzzle!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26813
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty */** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. This was the usual entertaining stuff from Jay but one of my quickest solves ever, I don’t think many people are going to need the hints today! It would have been a straight 1* had it not been for two clues where I made problems for myself. There are no obscure words and five anagrams to give you a start, which I know many of you like. I also expect that some will disagree with my rating!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26807
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Greetings from Ottawa where we are about to experience some very unseasonable weather – the outlook for Wednesday is sunny and +12 degrees (Celsius).
Today we have a typical puzzle from Jay, although it is missing the usual substitution (A for B) type clue that I have come to expect from him. I debated whether it deserved 2* or 3* for difficulty. While I solved the majority of the clues more rapidly than usual – I did find that the last few put up quite a fight.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26801
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. Well I can’t believe it but this week it’s a year since my “Baptism of Fire” as a blogger – 2 March 2011! Where has the time gone? I’ve really enjoyed doing all the reviews and I thank you all for the nice comments that you’ve made. I hope you’ve found my efforts useful.
Over the year Jay has consistently supplied us with excellent puzzles and this one is no exception. The only problem is that sometimes they’re a bit thin on photo opportunities – not this time though!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26795
Hints and tips by Big Dave
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BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I was supposed to send this puzzle to Falcon so that he could write the review, but I had an early night instead! There’s a hint of Lent about the puzzle – possibly more so than I have identified.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26789
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ****
Hola from the Vega Baja. Another enjoyable offering from Jay which raised a few smiles and had a few d’oh moments as well. If I’ve counted right there are 4 anagrams and 2 partial anagrams so that should keep some of you happy! Also the usual quota of ‘take the first and/or last letter’ type of clue.
Unfortunately limited opportunities for pictures of scantily clad ladies!
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 26783
Hints and tips by pommers
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BD Rating – Difficulty *** – Enjoyment ***
Hola from the Vega Baja. This puzzle will be a lot easier if you can solve 10a quickly as 5 of the other across clues refer to it. I found it a little tricky as I’m not familiar with a couple of the types of 10a but I got there in the end. Some of you will probably think it a doddle! It only just got into the 3* time for me so if I knew a bit more about 10a probably only 2*.
It’s also the first time I’ve had to blog a puzzle where so many clues refer to another. It’s not easy to hint those that refer to 10a without giving 10a away. Hope I’ve done it OK. I’ve been blogging Jay’s puzzles for the best part of a year now and he’s never done one with so many linked clues in all that time so the thought’s crossed my mind that this may not be one of his, perhaps he’ll pop in and let us know.
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