30936 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

DT 30936

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 30936

Hints and tips by Falcon

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating  –  Difficulty *** –  Enjoyment ****

Greetings from Ottawa, where King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive this afternoon for a quick overnight stay. Tomorrow, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne opening the new session of Parliament before they depart later in the day.

Hopefully, they will be blessed with a bit of decent weather during their visit – something that has been in short supply lately. Although we did experience a warm, sunny day yesterday, the weather has been unseasonably cold and rainy for the past couple of weeks. I read with envy Senf’s accounts of the warm temperatures in Western Canada which would normally arrive here a couple of days later. However, lately they have failed to make an appearance. He must either be hoarding the warm weather or perhaps he has forwarded it by Canada Post.

I found today’s puzzle more challenging than recent offerings. I did enjoy it although I would have enjoyed it far more if I weren’t working to deadline. It does not help that ever since the new Telegraph Puzzles website was introduced, the puzzles have invariably been posted late – sometimes by as much as 45 minutes (the delay was about 30 minutes today). This is a major inconvenience to bloggers on this side of the pond who prepare the blog the evening before it appears on Big Dave’s website. It may also, at least in part, account for the recent dearth of kitties on Friday.

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.

Please leave a comment telling us what you thought of the puzzle.

Continue reading “DT 30936”