Didn’t realise it was my turn to do the Grauniad; my apologies for the late post.
A nice easy start to the week. I am normally one of Rufus’s harshest critics, but this was fine – nice and clean with no contentious clues, and no over-reliance on not-too-cryptic definitions.
Time taken to solve – 5 mins 27 secs
ACROSS
1 AG-ROUND
5 L(APT)OP
9 INFIDELS – IN + (fields)*
12 ORGAN GRINDER
15 ALL(EGRET)-TO
20 COD’S-WALLOP
22 ECONOMY DRIVE – the least cryptic of the clues here
26 RE(LIE)F
27 ARMS RACE – an oldie, but a goodie
28 D(U)RESS
29 LA(SAG)NE
DOWN
2 RUFF – homophone of ROUGH
3 UNDER AGE – UN + (agreed)*
4 DELTA
6 AD(A-GI)O
7 TREADMILLS
8 PAPER CLIPS – another oldie
11 A(GATE)S
13 CATTLE-GRID
14 SLOW BOWLER – excellent!
16 EPONYM – PONY in (<=ME)
18 HARVESTS – (TV shares)*
21 COVERS – double definition
25 ME-TE
I am amused by the frequency of comments that seem to start off with an assumption that Rufus is beyond the pale and finish off by saying ‘well actually he isn’t bad’. Good that we can overcome the prejudices engendered by those who don’t much care for us – maybe there’s hope for all of us!
Just started Guardian c’words about 2 months ago and this was the first time i should have completed it – made a mistake with DELTA and refused to take out Dogma even though i knew it didn’t work and the word infidels had gone through my mind at one point – also for the two notes clue I’m sure I grew up with TI not TE as a note… anyway it still took me all day to do – how long does it take to be able to do one as quick as you bloggers?!!!!
Most of the notes seem to have alternative spellings (TE/TI, ME/MI, SOH/SOL etc).
I’ve been doing crosswords regularly for about 3 years. My fastest time is around 15 mins and my average is probably over 30 mins (assuming I manage to complete them at all). Really difficult ones (and I’m not even talking about the advanced/barred ones here) can take me several sittings over the course of a day (or even two) and more often than not I give up before they are finished. Many of the bloggers here seem to be incredibly fast and manage to complete them quicker than it would take me if I were given all the answers and just had to copy them in!
So don’t get disheartened, these guys/gals really are exceptionally fast.
I normally time myself with a calendar rather than a stopwatch….
Mark & Testy: You’re doing better than I was after 2 months or 3 years. Keep up the practice and you never know what might happen – especially if you’re starting while still fairly young.
Oh! If only you had stopped typing a bit sooner Pete. You’ve managed to make an old man very unhappy.
While I do admire those who can solve really fast, I do puzzles just to enjoy them. I don’t approach puzzles in ‘race the clock’ mode and note the times in my reviews merely to show readers if it was a hard or easy puzzle and to compare the setters.
Times shorten through practice (of which I’ve had plenty), but enjoyment remains the same. No point in lumbering yourself with more ‘targets’ when there are enough of those in real life.
Testy: If you’re an old man who can prove my pet theory about age wrong, that would be great. But when you ask most really quick solvers when they started, they give you an age under 20.