Contributers to this forum ( and solvers in general ) are all ages, come from all walks of life and have vastly varying interests as evinced by the posts and clue preferences.

Guardian setters regularly break the mould when it comes to putting a new spin on cryptics and keeping the format fresh, there were about 15 actors in last weeks prize puzzle and not a one had the forenames Herbert Beerbohm.

Also I must say that simply copy and pasting your rather weak (and may I say mealy mouthed ) refutation of the criticisms received from the Guardian sites comments over to this forum is pretty lazy considering that the tone of the criticism was wholly different.

Also apart from your faux-pas in revealing 3 of Saturdays prize answers in your article, one of the revealed answers is a prime example of the fluidity of the English language being no longer primarily an arcane religious reference. It is now known by kids as young as 5 and is a buzz word of the cutting edge of the next generation of 3-D internet technology thereby destroying your argument in one fell swoop.

As for the x-oku I found the clueing weak and the format rather trying in a negative way, the use of Adobe Flash as a method for website navigation is not only a throwback to over-designed sites of several years ago but is actually illegal as it contravenes The Disability Discrimination Act and would never be considered by any self-respecting designer in this day and age.
Just trying to provoke debate.
Stiofain

Hope you read this as it is now morning here and I am just about to head to work.

I used bad boy as a term of affection, I enjoy tour contribution the most because it does stir things up and makes me laugh out loud.

Sorry to hear things are not going so well with your leg, chin up. And keep stirring, I love it.

Two reasons for thst, the people here think normal is their little ivory tower. They have no idea that the many thousands of mere mortals who daily struggle to get halfway through even a Rufus, would never agree with half the things they say. That’s because no-one like that is here, so being on the border I stick up for the silent majority.

It never occurs to oanyone here to query why there are so few regulars here when thousands do croswards. So they resent me pointing out that though experts they may be, that in itself makes them totally unrepresentative of the general population. That is what defines experts in any field.

And being experts some of them have an arrogant conceit which makes then sneer at lesser mortals. I was attacked as shouldn’t be doing crosswords. That deserves all the putting in of the boot it gets. If I’m a bad boy how do you describe conceited sneerers? Doesn’t say much for them as being pleasant human beings does it?

The other reason is I’m bored witless waiting for this bloody leg to heal. The quacks say it is the most complex fracture they’ve seen so it is bound to take ages. So rocking boats in ivory towers was going to be part of the therapy even if certain callous bastards hadn’t provoked it.

And I’m not going to comment on today’s crossword, ‘cos I just wasn’t in the mood to do it properly ‘cos I was due in to have the bandages and stiches removed from a follow up op ‘cos of a complication. The self same day as when the whole south came to a halt due to the first serious snow for twenty years. So I have to wait another week. That is now 5 weeks behind normal schedule and another week of abject tedium sitting on the sofa. So, being a fair minded man, having nothing fair to say about today, I shall say nothing.

G’day.