Among so many nice surfaces I also really liked ACUTE. It’s just a perfect clue – the smoothest of surfaces to distract from a very simple word play and definition. I shared it with colleagues who are, I hope, starting to understand the appeal…

Since I started doing crosswords three years ago, Mr C’s puzzles have always been of great influence on my way of thinking in Crosswordland.
He combines splendid surfaces with nice misdirections, lightness, wit (9ac!!!) and unsloppiness ( ) – I really don’t know how he does it all the time [maybe I will ask him in the next S&B meeting].
And although 15^2 posters are normally very positive about Orlando, I can see where walruss comes from when he talks about an “unsung hero”.

This crossword was surely a highlight in Orlando’s recent ‘career’ [hate the word].
The trilogy 7,10,15d is a real treat – agree with you, Eileen.

But our (I have to say my PinC’s [by far]) Clue of the Day is 4d (ACUTE).
I will leave it up to you to figure out why.

Fantastic puzzle.
One that made clear (once more?) that writing skills are far more important than the level of difficulty of a crossword.

A superb puzzle from Orlando with lots of fun, amusement and impeccable clueing. I failed on IWO JIMA and TOCSINS but it was all there in the wordplay for someone with half a brain. So many good clues today but UMBRIAN was marvellous, closely followed by TOBACCO and PLUTOCRAT. EARLIER also raised a laugh.
Many thanks Orlando.

Thanks eileen for great blog. Fave clue? 24a earl-ier

I’ve been out all day and only just got round to today’s puzzle.

Not much to add – like most others I found this one easy but hugely enjoyable. UMBRIAN, RAINIER, EARLIER (this trick always makes me smile, so I don’t mind it appearing twice) and NIGHTINGALE were my favourites.

CHASSEPOT was completely new to me, but the clue led me straight there.

TOCSIN is a word that seems to live in a crossword ghetto – on the (fairly rare) occasions it crops up it is invariably given a homophone clue – but it does appear in one of the numbers in G&S’s ‘Mikado’.

I don’t think it’s at all true that Orlando is an unsung hero here.

With Caretman @23 and Stella @9, I think I was very lucky to draw an Orlando puzzle today [and almost said so, this morning], especially as I blogged his last one, where I commented, fairly late on in the evening:

“I may well be offering one or two hostages to fortune but I really can’t see, at the moment, any adverse comments, which, as far as my blogs are concerned, at least, must be a first! A real tribute, I think, to Orlando.”

Again, it’s fairly early days [but I'm going out soon] to be tempting fate but, apart from a slight demur @19, I can’t see any criticisms – too easy / too hard / too obscure / too many anagrams / cryptic definitions / overbearing theme, etc. etc. – just, as Chas says, ‘general praise’. Something of a ‘Goldilocks’, rather than a ‘Marmite’ puzzle, in fact, and you’ve been around long enough to know we don’t get many of those!

[Perhaps I'd now better retreat below the parapet - or, better still, go out for a lovely evening ramble round Rutland Water.]

I can claim ignorance for failing to put Susan in 13a as I did not follow Forsyte when it was broadcast!

I will join in the general praise of Orlando – I found nothing to complain about.

I enjoyed 9a and 19d.