Elegant throughout.

Bravo Brendan and thanks for the excellent blog mhl..

I have extremely fond memories of Frank Muir and Denis Norden from ‘Take it from Here’ days.
I was saddened as a youngster by Tommy Handley’s death, and I recall being at a school friend’s house and hearing my first Take it from Here show. I then went back home and announced to my father that at last there was something good to take the place of Itma!

I also used to like his ‘anecdotes’ and mentioned one a few weeks ago with a possible crossword flavour – he was pondering over a problem while mending a puncture when the solution suddenly hit him in the eye.

Thanks also to Brendan for this excellent and very inventive puzzle. I keep thinking of his reply when asked what makes a bad crossword and it was “one that you cannot finish” or similar wording. Thankfully, this was not the case today although initially I read through all the across clues without getting a single one. Then I stumbled on GUJERATI which I’ve often seen on forms as a choice of language. JUG has been used a few times recently to mean prison, so that was my entry into this puzzle. Superb clueing throughout with particular favourites being RECORDERS, REMATCH, EDAM and RELY.

Re Claudius: I hope you know there was absolutely no criticism implied: it only occurred to me [much] later!

‘BTW, I’ve noticed before that Brendan uses this device regularly [or should it be 'frequently', referring to a recent discussion] more than once.’

Thanks for mentioning this. T’was I who committed this solecism. I didn’t respond to it but it has rankled ever since. I meant it in the literal sense of ‘as a rule’, as I’m sure you did, too.

I didn’t know that link – thanks for that – but I’m certainly old enough to remember the Frank Muir quotation – and loved it.

[I did Hamlet for A level - just one reason I loved this puzzle - and reckon I know all the jokes current then [a long time ago!]

news.discovery.com/history/hamlet-irish-shakespeare-110304.html

which would explain Frank Muir’s comment (for those old enough to remember him) the mysterious Irishman in the play to whom Hamlet says “Now I could do it, Pat”.