I found a lot of fun here, but then I love anagrams, and there were a lot of them.

I really liked: the tricky anagram indicator at 5, the clue I didn’t solve at 12, the wonderful 19, the nice surface at 4, and the puzzle in general.

Perhaps this was not Thursday fodder, but “difficulty” is hard for the editor to judge given the wide range of solvers’ knowledge and talents. Oh, I also liked 13.

Well done sir. Great puzzle

Jake.

And I’ve never seen ‘Gidday’ – only ‘G’day’.
‘Ö’

It’s after ten o’clock on this Thursday night and there’s still no post by the (wo)man h(im/er)self. That’s a real pity.

My overall feeling is that Philistine didn’t live up to his potential today. The problem with a statement like this is that I’m not sure whether (s)he’s a newby or not.
One feels the dedication in the writing of the clues, a good spread of devices, fine surfaces etc. But these clues deserved more depth. For example, 5ac (NERVOUS) was very well (and originally) constructed (although I would have tried to find an astronomic definition), but the answer was there within 10 seconds. It was just a real shame to see so many good clues being spoiled by their obvious solutions.

On the minus side, we weren’t happy with the definition in 14ac (PRESCRIBE) [or was it an attempt to write an &Lit?]. My PinC in particular didn’t like the order of things in 16ac: ‘missing a’ coming before ‘greeting etc’, while it reads like it should be linked with ‘Frivolous’. We both thought ‘undead’ in the clue for 8d was too similar to the answer (UNAIDED).

On the plus side, we were very happy with 9d (MIXED BLESSING) [she] and 6d (EASTER) [me]. And with 5ac, 11ac and 7d.

I have to be careful with what I’m saying (as I try to compile myself every now and then), but eventually I think the cluing as such was nice, however just not challenging enough.
See what happens next time.

As I said a warm welcome, but also 9d.

[thanks, Eileen]

And more strayan please!

I remember having abalone in Chinese restaurants in the 60s in Lancaster and Oxford, possibly Manchester and Wilmslow, too, but I don’t know if Chines restaurants still do it, as we don’t visit them any more because of excess MSG. It ruined our wedding night and the first anniversary, with trips to hospital to have the rash sorted out each time.

Don’t normally do the current Guardian, but got stuck on today’s Indy and wanted to try out the NKOTB. I fall the camp that found it moderately difficult, with expressions that I know of, but hadn’t encountered before or wasn’t expecting in a crossword, but which was what made this puzzle enjoyable.

I liked EYE CANDY, VEHEMENCE and GO COMMANDO.

Re ABALONE, this is a delicacy ie. high-priced out here and I remember having it (canned from Mexico) on special occasions like the New Year family re-union dinners. Like most shellfish, it’s sweetest eaten off the shell. As a footnote, I recall about 10+ years ago, reading a food critic (I think, but can’t be sure, that it was the acerbic A A Gill of the Sunday Times) describing the texture of abalone. I can’t locate the original article, but suffice to say that it was much risque-er than GO COMMANDO but in the same general area, if you get my drift. Those who’ve had a taste of it might be familiar with it. Also suffice to say, if it were A A Gill, he’s won the Bad Sex Award in Literature

I’ve had a very busy day so must apologise for not having welcomed superkiwigirl @13 [thanks, chas @17] – great to hear from you!

I’m fascinated by how much correspondence ABALONE has generated, after all its appearances! Thanks for all the tips and recipes: I’ll certainly look out for them in Leicester fish market, Carrots!