DailyTelegraph Cryptic No 31177
Hints and tips by Huntsman
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BD Rating – Difficulty * Enjoyment ***
Well I don’t know whether or not strictly speaking spring is here but after yesterday’s warm sunshine & a similar start to the day here in Harpenden it certainly feels like it.
I thought today’s puzzle (from Anthony Plumb I assume) about on a par with X-Type yesterday. As ever tightly clued & perfectly enjoyable albeit for me at least not hitting the heights of last week so it’ll be interesting to see what others make of it.
As usual there is a selection of music to enjoy or ignore.
In the hints below the definition element of each clue has been underlined, anagrams are CAPITALISED & the crossword technique “indicator words” are in brackets. The answers are concealed under the Click Here buttons. Please leave a comment below telling us what you thought & how you got on with the puzzle.
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31176
Hints and tips by Falcon
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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ****
Greetings from Ottawa where, following a brief spell where the daytime temperatures got above the freezing point, we are about to return to more frigid temperatures. It’s definitely a long way from spring here. This idea of spring starting on March 1st that Senf mentioned yesterday must be an invention of British meteorologists. I’ve never encountered it on this side of the pond.
I will not hazard a guess as to today’s setter. Smylers figures that at least four setters may be sharing Monday duties. Unless a setter displays characteristics as distinctive as those of RayT, I am hopeless at identifying them.
In the hints below, underlining identifies precise definitions and cryptic definitions, FODDER is capitalized, and indicators are italicized. The answers will be revealed by clicking on the ANSWER buttons.
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A Puzzle by Zebedee
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Sunday Toughie No 214
by proXimal
Hints and Tips by Sloop John Bee
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proXimal is here again with all his Sunday Toughie trademarks. Tougher than usual I think, but not helped by my failure to find 27a in any dictionary! There appears to be a surplus I and the only source I can find suggests it is a common misspelling. Tomdisappointingsturges 65 will be very disappointed indeed if we allow misspellings to become commonplace.
We have 14a and 16d clues today and I have hinted half. I hope you find the checkers to get across the line.
Here we go, Folks…
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Enigmatic Variations 1736 (Hints)
Crack Up by Shark
Hints and tips by Phibs
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With very little to offer Claude in terms of today’s puzzle, I asked, “Why would a setter of themed crossword puzzles choose to call themselves Shark?”
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Sunday Telegraph Cryptic No 3358 (Hints)
Hints and tips by Senf
A very good Sunday morning from Winnipeg on this first day of March.
For those who are minded to celebrate today, a Happy St David’s Day. I should like to mark the day with a wee dram of a single malt, which I discovered when I was in Somerset at the end of November last year, from the Aber Falls Distillery in Abergwyngregyn, North Wales, but I have yet to find it over here; however, I am sure that The Balvenie will be an acceptable substitute.
If meteorologists try to persuade you that today is the first day of Spring ignore them, they are delusional. Starting the seasons on the first of a month is a convenience they have invented for themselves and they should probably have their meteorological qualifications revoked. As any sane person knows, Spring begins with the Vernal Equinox which this year occurs at 2:46pm GMT on Friday, March 20th.
For me, and I stress for me,© Dada somewhat quirky today but I did not detect any post-modern intellectual, cultural and artistic pseudo-meta-clues (see NYDK’s response to Paul Gowans – Comment 23 – in yesterday’s blog) – eight anagrams (three partials), one lurker, and no homophones in an asymmetric 29 clues; with 15 hints ‘sprinkled’ throughout the grid you should/might be able to get some of the checkers to enable the solving of the unhinted clues. I hope you have your Crimson Tomes at hand!
Remember that Reading the Hints before commenting can be beneficial!
If it is some time since you read, or if you have never read the instructions in RED below the hints then please consider doing so before commenting today as my electronic blue pencil is at the ready and the Naughty Step is OPEN!
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A Puzzle by Radler
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Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 31175 (Hints)
The Saturday Crossword Club
(hosted by crypticsue)
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Toughie No 3644 by Sparks
Hints and tips by Gazza
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BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ***
An enjoyable but quite tough puzzle from Sparks today with several answers which I needed to verify. Sparks often gives us something extra in the grid – the only thing I can see today is that many answers start with E and there are two big E-shapes in the grid. Can you spot anything else?
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Daily Telegraph
No 31174
Hints and tips by ALP
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BD Rating – Difficulty **/*** – Enjoyment ****
I’m standing in for Mr K so I’m afraid there will be no cats. I remain traumatised by them after watching Doctor Who getting chased through London’s sewers by giant rats back in 1977. Our old tom was equally terrified and promptly pounced on my head before coughing up hot milk all over me. Happily, there are no such horrors today, simply smart but fair wordplay and fizzy surfaces. Just no cats! All yours.
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