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Quite easy by this setter’s standard, I thought, but ingenious and enjoyable as ever. Thanks to Jack.
Jack’s puzzles (and those of his alter egos Serpent and Basilisk) usually include a Nina of some kind, and here the words in the outer edges give the four (unrelated) phrases SCRIPT WRITERS, SPEECH THERAPY, SITTING PRETTY and STATION WAGONS
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | SCRIPT | Soldier letting go of prisoner’s hand (6) CONSCRIPT (soldier) less CON (convict, prisoner) |
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| 4 | WRITERS | They author legal documents framing employer’s case (7) E[mploye]R in WRITS |
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| 9 | AMBUSCADE | Surprise attack clipped trainee soldier on American vehicle (9) AM[erican] BUS + CADE[t] (trainee soldier) |
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| 10 | UNTIE | Free to marry once it has been put back (5) UNITE (marry) with IT reversed |
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| 11 | IDLED | Vain daughter did very little (5) IDLE + D |
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| 12 | BIOMETRIC | Life story in verse based on physical characteristics (9) BIO (biography, life story) + METRIC (in verse) |
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| 13 | NOTABLE | Remarkable decision not to approve board (7) If you don’t approve the “board” you would decide to have NO TABLE |
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| 15 | TRAGIC | Blurring of CGI and art could be disastrous (6) (CGI ART)* |
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| 17 | REVERB | Resounding effect of Britain always recalled (6) Reverse of BR EVER |
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| 19 | AGAINST | Not in favour of encore by soprano and tenor (7) AGAIN (encore!) + S + T |
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| 22 | ALTERNATE | Every other change had to involve chairperson in the end (9) [chairperso]N in ALTER (change) + ATE (had) |
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| 24 | AMBLE | Stroll went all over the place except outside (5) [r]AMBLE[d] |
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| 26 | OPENS | Person wanting right to run sporting events (5) Anagram of PERSON less R |
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| 27 | HEALTH SPA | I’m surprised about the Alps new resort (6,3) |
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| 28 | SITTING | Group of people eating in office (7) Double definition |
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| 29 | PRETTY | Fair game must accept empty threat (6) T[hrea]T in PREY (game) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | STATION | Position that offers opportunities for training? (7) Definition + cryptic definition, with a play on “train”, which stop at stations |
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| 2 | REBEL | Bottled beer and lager to begin with are revolting (5) BEER* + L[ager] |
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| 3 | PASO DOBLE | Does Pablo dance this? (4,5) (DOES PABLO)*, with a “semi-&lit” definition that refers to the wordplay |
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| 4 | WEED OUT | Eliminate small uncertainty for auditor (4,3) Sounds like “wee doubt” |
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| 5 | INURE | Make stronger guarantee to eliminate source of stress (5) INSURE (guarantee) less S[tress] |
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| 6 | EXTORTION | Former partner turned corruption into crooked money-making scheme (9) EX (former partner) + reverse of ROT (corruption) + INTO*. Extortion may well be crooked, but it’s not part of the definition here |
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| 7 | SPEECH | Delivery of first letter from postbag in school (6) PEE (the P of postbag) in SCH[ool] |
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| 8 | BARBIE | Ken’s partner is rather spiky we hear (6) Sounds like “barb-y” |
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| 14 | TREATMENT | Management team swimming in river (9) TEAM* in TRENT |
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| 16 | ALABASTER | Carved stone in style of baroque breast (9) A LA (in the style of) + BREAST* |
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| 18 | BEAR HUG | Spooner’s musical obsession is something quite breathtaking? (4,3) Spoonerism of “Hair bug” (referring to “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” Hair) |
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| 19 | APEMAN | Call father informally about distant relative? (6) Reverse of NAME PA |
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| 20 | THERAPY | What may help some people receiving criticism? (7) RAP (criticism) in THEY (some people) – another semi-&lit |
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| 21 | WAGONS | Trucks used to be circling ground regularly (6) Alternate letters of GrOuNd in WAS (used to be) |
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| 23 | RISHI | King is greeting wise man from the East (5) R (king) + IS + HI (greeting). This name for an Indian sage seems to have come up quite often recently |
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| 25 | BESET | Live group attacked from all directions (5) BE (to live) + SET (group) |
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A super puzzle with only the SW giving me trouble. APEMAN was loi, which with hindsight was not that difficult. I guessed AMBUSCADE from the wordplay and upon completion, I spotted the combination of SCRIPT WRITERS and then going clockwise around the periphery, the others listed by Andrew. I don’t if there is a name for this device, Nina I suppose, but it was delightful. More of this setter please.
Ta Jack & Andrew
For HEALTH SPA, I parsed it as HA around the anagram fodder. EH gives an extra E, Andrew.
Exceedingly smooth setting from Jack. Or so it felt during the solve. Some nice definitions and clean, crisp constructions. And, for once, I spotted the extras around the edge. SCRIPT, AGAINST, HEALTH SPA, REBEL WEED OUT and WAGONS were my faves today.
Thanks Jack and Andrew
AlanC, thanks for pointing that out: I’ll amend the blog
Enjoyable and at times gnarly for my level of solving.
SCRIPT a fine clue.
AMBUSCADE parsing took a long time. The US in the middle took my eye and hence mind away from the correct parse.
Wasn’t over keen on HAIR BUG.
The outside linked words passed me by completely – must try harder!
“Bottled” as an anagrind strikes me as a bit flaky as does IDLE = VAIN.
Top faves: SCRIPT, SITTING, BEAR HUG and THERAPY.
Thanks Jack and Andrew.
I normally steer clear of Jack’s, as they have on occasion ended in tears, but I attempted today’s, completed it bar a couple, and enjoyed it.
Why is a sitting a group of people eating?
Haven’t seen “baroque” as an anagrind before. Unusual.
AMBUSCADE & PASO DOBLE were new to me.
Not my favourite Setter and once again left a bit cold by puzzle everyone else loves. Too many clues felt a bit strained. But probably just me. Still a good start to Tuesday morning
@gdunder. At restaurants etc a group served at same time is a sitting, often used as first sitting and last sitting
Thanks Jack and Andrew
Apologies. I retract my HAIR BUG comment. Was being dense.
REBEL
Frankie The Cat@6
bottled in the sense of ‘drunk’ seems to work all right as an anagrind.
Quite tough but mainly because I am not familiar with this setter’s style.
New words for me: AMBUSCADE.
I could not fully parse 9ac (like Steve@5 I was looking at US=American), 1d, 19d, 20d.
Geoff Down Under @8 schools have dinner SITTINGs to get all the pupils fed and too small a hall to seat everyone.
Frankie the Cat@6 I thought vain/IDLE thoughts on how to spend his lottery winnings.
Fun solve with some chewy bits.
Thank you to Andrew and Jack.
I spotted the Nina after finishing which was great because I hardly ever do. Had not encountered AMBUSCADE before but it was very fairly clued. I really liked SCRIPT, ALABASTER, TREATMENT and HEALTH SPA. It would be good to see less of RISHI though… Many thanks to Jack and Andrew.
Vain/idle hope?
steveThePirate@10, I was also fooled by 18 but now it’s my favourite clue on the grid!
Managed to complete, but left with question marks about how exactly several clues that seemed to lie exclusively in the top half of the puzzle parsed – AMBUSCADE, UNITE, IDELY, SCRIPT and INURE. So many thanks for the clarification Andrew, and I’m another not that keen on Idle = Vain.
Not Idely, but IDLED, maybe subconsciously trying to get Ely into a puzzle yet again…
Thanks Jack and Andrew
I was on Jack’s wavelength today, and finished very quickly. Favourites TRAGIC (surface so true!) and WEED OUT.
One question – is “delivery” doing double duty in 7d, for the P to become PEE?
No muffin @18, it’s not doing double duty, it’s just the definition.
Tim C @19
But the “first letter of postbag” is P – an indicator is needed to spell it as PEE.
pee2 /pē/
noun
The sixteenth letter of the modern English alphabet (P or p)
FTC @6,
idle /īˈdl/
adjective
Unemployed
Disliking work, lazy
Not occupied
Not in use or operation
Useless
Unimportant
Unedifying
Vain
Baseless, without foundation
Trifling
Not for the first time, I’ve solved a Jack puzzle and managed to parse it and spotted the extra bits and then made a promise to myself to be less scared of Serpent and Basilisk puzzles. I couldn’t believe how quickly the answers were going in but kept making myself stop and savour the wordplay and surfaces along the way. I was so sorry to find that I’d finished.
PostMark @3 has summed up my feelings very succinctly. My favourites, from a long list of ticks, were SCRIPT, AGAINST, ALTERNATE, HEALTH SPA, WEED OUT, EXTORTION and TREATMENT. No problem for me with vain/idle.
Many thanks to Jack for a brilliant start to the day and to Andrew for a fine blog.
An enjoyable puzzle; just the right level of difficulty for a Tuesday, I thought.
Liked WRITERS, INURE and AMBUSCADE.
Like others, I struggled a bit with VAIN = IDLE.
And, as always, I completely missed the NINAs. Oh well…
Thanks to Jack and Andrew.
@9 Matthew Newell – no, same here. I got most of this completed, but without much enthusiasm. Not a criticism of the crossword: just not my wavelength, I don’t think.
I often have trouble with Jack: I think this was easier than usual. Liked UNTIE, STATION, PASO DOBLE and the wee doubt. It took a while to stop trying to fit surprise attack=ambush into AMBUSCADE.
Knowing Jack often has one, I was looking for a Nina of the usual kind, and was disappointed when the second row started so promisingly with TEA… but came to nothing. I did eventually spot the linked words.
For those who enjoy an earworm, here’s one for my last in, 19d.
Lovely puzzle, it seems Jack was being kind today. And the border words an extra treat.
AMBUSCADE was new for me, but gettable from the word play once I thought of CADEt.
I liked SCRIPT, REVERB, BEAR HUG and THERAPY.
A couple of random thoughts:
It’s interesting how appealing are clues with BEARs 🐻, two in a row (‘bear with me’ yesterday);
UK solvers especially must be tiring of Rishi the wise man.
Thanks to Jack and Andrew
SueM48 @26
It’s odd but I can hardly ever remember seeing the reference to Rishi as a wise man when we had one as Prime Minister.
Another very gentle work-out. Are we building up for something more chewy?
Thanks Jack and Andrew
In my idle fancies and vain imaginings, I saw the Nina as a call to script writers to circle the wagons & prepare their speeches for whatever today might bring, after which we might all need therapy. Although I’m not sure anyone is sitting pretty.
I especially enjoyed ‘small uncertainty’ and THERAPY.
Thank you Jack & Andrew.
In 2D, I can’t see how rebel equates to are revolting or even to revolting.
Great puzzle, gentler than usual from Jack, as others have remarked, but tightly constructed and well-surfaced. And for once I spotted the peripheral linkages, which helped with a couple of solutions.
Many good clues – I particularly liked the construction for UNTIE.
I agree with Pauline in Bruno and SueM48 that RISHI is becoming tiresome, but Jack had painted himself into a corner here (though ‘rösti’ is often written without the umlaut).
Thanks to Jack and Andrew
Anne@30: revolting=rebelling, so “are revolting” = “rebel”
From Chambers: revolt=”to rise in opposition”
Anne@30: REBEL is the verb, not the noun. “They rebel” – “They are revolting”.
I’m not aware of having seen ‘bottled’ as anagrind before.
HEALTH SPA is an odd phrase. Is it any different from simply a spa?
Fun puzzle, right in my wheelhouse as far as difficulty went, and some excellent surfaces. Of course I completely missed the phrases around the edges.
I would also like to commend the editor for resisting the temptation to any kind of themed puzzle on this notable day.
Tim C @21
I don’t see how PEE can be the first letter of anything, as it’s three letters!
I must remember to call in at the Peeost Office later.
muffin @35: the first letter of postbag is a P. The spelling of P is PEE.
The outer two-word ninjas set me looking for others. BARBIE BEARHUG didn’t quite work and REBEL TREATMENT just conjured up a Confederate soldier on a trolley. But PASO DOBLE RISHI suggested an exciting future celeb for Strictly!!
I enjoyed this, and found it tricky to solve and parse because many of the synonyms were not obvious to me.
Solved in a noisy hospital waiting room which is my excuse for taking so long to spot the Ninas round the outside of the grid
Enjoyably tricky
Thanks to Jack and Andrew
Missed the Ninas, but otherwise this went in smoothly. A nice start to what will be a tough week (here in the U.S.). Thanks Jack and Andrew.
[19d APEMAN – Thanks for the earworm, gladys@25. I knew Ray Davies had had to fly back from the US to the UK to re-record “Coca” as “Cherry” on Lola.
TiLT – He had to do the same for this, the follow-up: “the air pollution is a-foggin‘ up my eyes” sounded too much like something else.]
Decent puzzle. Slowed down in the NW by unfamiliarity with AMBUSCADE and dogged insistence that 1d might be ‘shotgun’ – training a rifle, and a formation (OK, not a position) in American football. Saw the nina a bit late, but it helped when it did.
PostMark @36
Yes, my point is that PEE isn’t the first letter of POSTBAG; it’s what the first letter is called. Therefore an indication that this is required is needed, and the only possibility is “delivery. Hence “delivery” is doing double duty.
SPEECH
Adding to what Tim C and PM have said:
For p=pee, t=tee and c=see, I think no homophone indicator is needed
because pee, tee and see mean (not just sound like) p, t and c resp.
They are unlike you=u, which may need a homophone indicator or a social
media slang indicator.
Andrew @32 Thank you (sincerely) but I do know what revolt means.
poc@33 Yes, I was thinking of the verb.
My problem is with an infinitive or indicative “rebel” equating to a participle “revolting”. I would have no problem with “revolt” instead of “are revolting”.
But I am just now thinking that perhaps it’s the adjective “revolting” and the adjective “rebel”.
Bravo Jack, classy crossword and no less enjoyable for being on the easier side, thanks Andrew and best wishes to CrypticSue@39
I’m getting PEEd off with this discussion, which is all a bit Alice in Wonderland:
“It’s long,” said the Knight, “but very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it—either it brings the tears into their eyes, or else—”
“Or else what?” said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
“Or else it doesn’t, you know. The name of the song is called ‘Haddocks’ Eyes’.”
“Oh, that’s the name of the song, is it?” Alice said, trying to feel interested.
“No, you don’t understand,” the Knight said, looking a little vexed.
“That’s what the name is called. The name really is ‘The Aged Aged Man’.”
“Then I ought to have said ‘That’s what the song is called’?” Alice corrected herself.
“No, you oughtn’t: that’s quite another thing! The song is called ‘Ways And Means’: but that’s only what it’s called, you know!”
Adrian@46 Thanks for the best wishes but I was only in the waiting room as I had to drive my husband to a physiotherapy appointment
Do you ever get the feeling we are all in a sketch by Victoria Wood?
Me too.
Pleasant puzzle with smiles in.
Why is ALABASTER “carved” stone? It’s alabaster whether anybody carves it or not.
Liked UNTIED.
Saw the horizontal Ninas, but didn’t think to look for vertical ones.
Who’s Victoria Wood?
Thanks, Jack and Andrew.
Thanks Jack for another expertly crafted crossword. I was surprised at how quickly I finished & parsed this but that didn’t diminish my enjoyment. My favourites were BIOMETRIC, TRAGIC, ALTERNATE, STATION, INURE, TREATMENT, APEMAN, and THERAPY. Thanks Andrew for the blog.
Oh yes, and it’s ninas not nijas (me @ 37).
And another thing… who has ever used the phrase HAIR BUG except to refer to a louse? HAIR NET, CUT, BALL…. But an enthusiast for 1960s musicals. Do what?
[crypticsue @48: Anyone who spends any time for any reason in a hospital waiting room deserves all of our best wishes!]
wynsum@29. A wry 🙂 My thoughts exactly. 🙁 It’s going to be a long night.
That was fun. A couple I couldn’t parse. Thanks Jack and Andrew. I had the same question as Valentine @50 re ALABASTER, but supposed that it is a stone which is often carved, which might be shortened to ‘carved stone’. Would be interested to hear a better explanation.
Nice to see ALTERNATE with its correct meaning. Is anyone else irritated by its increasing use to mean ‘other’? I saw it recently like this in a handwriting book for children.
Alec@52. I don’t know that the words that form the basis for the Spoonerism BEAR HUG, in this case hair bug, have to mean anything. It might be a lousy clue to you, but I liked the end result.
Sorry, Alec@52. Should have added a :-). That was an attempt at humour. Liked your definition of a hair bug.
I liked Jack’s puzzle. My only little niggle was that I thought that (r)AMBLE(d) were a bit too close. My favourites were THERAPY and PASO DOBLE.
Valentine @50….
Perhaps you were being ironic, sarcastic or something.
But, on the assumption you mean it (seems unlikely) she was perhaps the greatest comedy writer of the past 50 years. And I include Spike Milligan, Clement and La Frenais, Ronnie Barker (Gerald Wiley), Eric Sykes, Galton and Simpson and Alan Bennett. ‘Dinnerladies’ is on I-player. QED
poc @33 Based on observation, I believe the difference between a health spa and a spa is that the former costs twice as much.
Loved it – my favourite setter. As always, smooth and clever. “Just” do as you are asked, and you will find the answer … even if it takes a while for one to realise what IS being asked!
Despite that, I failed to parse SITTING, even though not that hard.
Veronica@62. I vividly remember what a ”sitting” means, or could mean. I was on a cruise ship when a storm hit just at the time ofv the early family lunch sitting, with a child. The ship’s crew were caught unawares and hadn’t battened down the hatches or removed all the glassware. Kids sliding all over the floor amidst broken glass.
Veronica@62. I vividly remember what a ”sitting” means, or could mean. I was on a cruise ship when a storm hit just at the time of the early family lunch sitting, with a child. The ship’s crew were caught unawares and hadn’t battened down the hatches or removed all the glassware. Kids sliding all over the floor amidst broken glass.
(That was doubly scary. Sorry for the repetition.)
Alec@60 I really have never heard of Victoria Wood.
Thanks Jack and Andrew.
Andrew’s comment: “This name for an Indian sage seems to have come up quite often recently” made me smile.
Gervaise@47
Shouldn’t it be “the naming of the song” instead of “the name of the song” 🙂
Anne @45
This needs clearing up, because you’ll be irritated next time a setter pulls this (perfectly legimate) trick: ‘rebel’ is 3rdppl present tense; ‘are revolting’ is 3rdppl present continuous tense. Those tenses are very nearly equivalent. That’s all poc and Andrew were trying to get across.
My dear Valentine @66, this is tragic news indeed. You must perhaps be very young, or American, or not have a TV. There is quite a lot of her work online. Start with Wiki, to get a chronology. Then search I-player and YouTube. ‘As seen on TV’ is a good place to start, and ‘Wood and Walters ‘ then the acme of sitcoms, ‘Dinnerladies’ – though ‘Acorn Antiques’ is good too. I envy you coming to her for the first time! Good viewing.
Slow to the party today but largely enjoyable solve
I saw VAIN = IDLE as in threat, and was happy with that.
Not so happy with baroque as an anagrind. Can’t see anything there except it being quite a fussy style? Anyone care to enlighten me?
Thanks Jack and Andrew
CJ @71: Collins gives numerous synonyms for baroque including fancy, extravagant, elaborate, bizarre, and convoluted. All of these can indicate an anagram.
Thanks Andrew and Jack. I think 16 is quite fair. One speaks of Nottingham ALABASTER just as one speaks of Elgin Marble.
A nice entertainment and I was stumped by the parsing of UNTIE – clever. Thanks both.
[gladys@25: Thanks for earworm – a most severely under-rated songsmith.]
Alec@37: Amusing thought. Most crozzies would conjure up a nina on that basis. For me BIOMETRIC EXTORTION in conjunction with HEALTH SPA REBEL would represent my point of view.
[Valentine@50: Victoria Wood at her best (imho). Think Tom Lehrer in a flame-proof nightie.]
Alec @ 60 &70 First, Valentine is American, lives in Connecticut, as you might know if you a been on this site for long. Secondly, in my own view, Caroline Aherne outstrips VW as a comic writer in the last 50 years, but why gender the matter?
Not a chance with AMBUSCADE, as I didn’t know the word and had AMBUS down as “surprise attack clipped” for a short version of ambush. Not helped by just not spotting WEED OUT at all.
That’s all on me, though, and a lovely grid all round.
Alec@70 You got two out of three. I’m not remotely young, but I am American, as Balfour remembers above, and have no TV (yes, there are Americans who don’t have TV!). So I’ll have a google and see.
Brutally difficult for me. 4 clues solved.
Nice one
Really enjoyed this!
KVa @11: I’ve never heard anyone say ‘bottled’ for drunk. Is this Australian/US slang? Never heard it in the UK… 🙂
I wondered about “bottled” as an anagrind too. Certainly if it means “drunk” then it’s in excellent anagrind company. I didn’t know that meaning, but it sounds quite plausible. Wiktionary does include this meaning and includes one published example.
I completely missed the Nina. I thought this was quite an enjoyable puzzle.
A fine puzzle from a setter I don’t always get on with. I thought ALABASTER was marvellous.
Loved all these clues. Nutmegish.
I can’t read the clue for REBEL without thinking of the immortal Mel Brooks.
Balfour@75. Thanks for putting me right about Valentine – he gently corrected me himself @ 77. You are right in assuming I have not been a visitor to this thread/blog for long – less than a year – and I am not quite obsessive enough to read every post, nor know every contributor. Must try harder.
As to comedy writers, I too admire Caroline Aherne, but I think her genius lay in improvisation – Mrs Merton notably. ‘The Royle Family’ has its moments, I admit.
Perhaps the creation of Top Tens is essentially fruitless, and I apologise if I set that hare running.
I am puzzled about your reference to gender. I made no such point or distinction.
BTW am not sure this is the best forum for this sort of debate! We should probably stick to giving clues ticks and telling an indifferent world about our loi and struggles in the NW.
I really enjoyed this one. Solved over 4 days and I got them all which is rare. The last 4 came in a flurry during a wakeful half hour at 4am! So clever and enjoyable. I’ve finally understood what office has got to do with sitting – it’s “in office”. Thank you Jack!