“A final comment: is there anywhere on 225 or elsewhere where there are ongoing discussions of the world/hobby of crossword solving at a more general level?”

Click on ‘General Discussion’ at the top of this page.

First, our dear Rufus should be banned from using this awful grid, which he uses *a lot* and almost no one else does. Why? Because his heavy use of CDs and DDs, which are very hard to be sure of, should be buffered with stronger checking.

I completed all the puzzle at various times, except FELL FLAT, but left a lot in pencil and even changed “correct” answers to others in pursuit of happiness, like ditching RATIO for “admin” – “A” “DeciMeter” “IN” = “operation”. I caught HINGE very late – that one was just a guessing game, not a clue for a cryptic puzzle. Maybe H?N?E would have been fair, but who knows with that weird clue. Many doors have three. My homemade mediaeval living room doors have four.

Back to my “hard to be sure of” comment. A well structured cryptic clue, when solved, is usually “provably” correct, in that the definition is “acceptable” if a bit stretched, and the wordplay is *exact* in interpretation and result. Then ink can be used and the checks are solid for further work.

With a DD, or worse yet, a CD – which I do not object to in principle – there is no way to be sure one has the correct answer, which makes the checked letters so much more useful. If there are any.

I wish I had some favorite clues to list – all I have are grumbles. “Required or” is redundant in 9. “in a” is redundant in 26. Some people pronounce “sort” with an “r”. 4 isn’t a double definition, it’s a mess – I went with an “M” not a “T”, although I equivocated on it. The clue does not provide an answer to finish the answer.

Now don’t get me wrong, the other half of the puzzle was nice typical Monday fare, speckled with easy anagrams and amusing surface/charade combinations. But I prefer to get an “aha, THAT’S how that worked” (like I did with FELL FLAT) when I come here to see where I went wrong, rather than to continue to groan. Not my happiest outing of late.

But as always, thanks and best regards to our friend Rufus, the valiant blogger Eileen, and all you who comment here, however regularly.

A final comment: is there anywhere on 225 or elsewhere where there are ongoing discussions of the world/hobby of crossword solving at a more general level? I often find myself with comments (like most of this one) that are really far broader than the confines of discussing one puzzle let me explore. I think this thing posts my email; suggestions would be delightful. Thanks in advance, as the the hip young kids say.

1ac Cut an Irishman announced in speech (5)

How outrageous is that? ‘in speech’ is TOTALLY redundant.