Author: branch

Several things here I’d never heard of: snooker venue? NHO. British telco? NHO. Rings round clouds? NHO! More than made up for by three delightful mathematics references, which admittedly may have failed to delight some of our group! End result: rather a slow solve.

As it happened, I solved this online for once. (So much TV sport, so little time!)

I finished comfortably under 30 minutes. It must have been easy – though I was helped by an unfamiliar answer I’d met for the first time only the day before!

I got off to a “flying” start on this one, by biffing an ill-considered guess in 11 across. That shrouded the NW corner in fog until the answer to 1 down forced a review!

One glance at this puzzle had me ready to burst into song:
In the Philippines there are lovely screens, to protect you from the glare,  
In the Malay states there are hats like plates, which the Britishers won’t wear

As the title says, wine, songs, fairy tales, and more: everything you need for a Saturday night? Actually, this is a pleasant middle of the road Saturday challenge, which you might well have finished before lunch.

A few clues caused momentary brain seizures – particularly 20ac, as discussed below, and 24dn. Overall, though, the solve flowed rather smoothly, with pauses for thought at 28ac and 14d. I enjoyed the reference at 13ac!

A few clues today stretched my general knowledge. The most mysterious was the Shakespearean character that I’d never heard of; various sources suggest he might sometimes be spelled with a J or a G rather than an I.

I saw 1ac and thought this might be the Cardiff Times crossword. Oh wait – the Cardiff Times doesn’t exist any more, I gather! Anyway, lovely clue, but not necessarily Welsh.

This week had a mix of quite easy clues and quite hard ones, but happily no obscurity. I loved the thought of harlotry flourishing in a place like 28ac! My LOI was 20dn, where I imagined an answer of the type ‘Model describes his work as impressive’ = I’M POSING. Not close!

This grid looked odd to me until I realised it has mirror symmetry about a diagonal, not the vertical axis. Happily there was nothing crooked about the puzzle.