Anzac March [April 25 - 30]

I haven't quite won this battle yet. Still have 5DN and 6DN to go.

I think I've got 11AC. I'm hoping I have the right 'horse' word. I can only think of one that works, but _A_E is a pattern with a multitude of possibilities.

The question mark is definitely needed in 19DN, as no woman with a shred of sense would cover a blemish with this answer. Perhaps the mother in question is of the new, sleep-deprived variety and with bleary eyes has mistaken 19DN for her concealer. (Dare I say, it must be a male compiler?)

Your gender theory is resonated by 6dn too, I reckon. While 5dn was my last fill.

A meh tag for 23ac, in a post to come.

Just 5DN now. 6DN was holding me up as I was thinking the woman was HER.

My meh pick for this puzzle would be 12DN. For starters, it's a meh word, and the manner in which the R gets shifted is too vague. Following close behind are 18AC and 26AC.

I did quite like 6AC though. And maybe 5DN is the best clue ever written and I just don't know it yet.

Ended up getting DESCRY in a lovely aha moment last night. (Though I think the word 'stuck' was superfluous in that clue.)

Today's Times is looking much more enjoyably challenging. It took me a while to find one I could do, but along the way I saw a lot that I'm looking forward to solving. I try not to read all the clues too early on, as I love that feeling when you get a bit stuck down the track and discover a clue you haven't seen yet.

Don't mind saying I found Tuesday a real pinch. At least the obscurity of 16dn is a patent anagram, but some other offerings (11ac, 21ac, 24ac, 25ac yada yada) tax the grey stuff. Solved, but only by the hairs on my chinny-chin-chin.

What a brain strain. Genuinely hardcore. My puzzle is still looking very white. I thought being another year older I would also be wiser, but maybe I'm past my prime.

The ones I've managed to solve are very nicely crafted. And 26AC took me back to my days in Northern Ireland.

Cracked a painless dozen at first glance, and have since pulled up six short.

Loved 15ac and 11dn, and not quite sold on the workings of three others. But a fun stoush and busting to unravel 25ac, among the remainders.

Only missed one in the end - POMPIDOU. I just didn't know it. I've since found my old Lonely Planet guide to Paris and there it is in all its pomp and glory. In my defence, I'm not a big fan of modern art.

Not too devastated about missing one, as I thought I was going to be down about 7 for a while. Feels like quite an achievement.

It's like a long distance phone call when you both talk at the same time. I've made a bit of a dent in today's but may not get to give it much more attention until the little one's in bed. Yes, 25AC has me intrigued. I hope it's as clever as it is claiming to be.

Hurrah - claiming not just the last two out in a row, but before the dynamic duo get there!

25across took me a while, but only because I expected it to be more difficult. 26 was my last, but fell out easily enough with what I had.

Can't say I'm clear on the wordplay for 1 ac or 11 down or 19 ac, but they have to be right. 22 down has to be my favourite for the artistry.

Well done, Anthony. I got there in the end, with 13dn my last. (And RK - you'll kick yourself once solving 25ac.)

Thought the repetition of 'or' was clumsy in 7dn, but overall a pleasing workout.

Way to go Anthony! I'll have to lift my game. I don't mind the dynamic duo moniker, as long as I'm Batman. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this puzzle now.

Still struggling with the Anzac crossword! Need sone help with 10 across and 6 down please!

Just three to go in today's Times and I'm feeling the pressure. 25AC was disappointing, DA. I was expecting some great palindrome or emordnilap.

My puzzle looks all festive with 12AC filled in. It's very satisfying when all the bits of a clue like that fall into place so beautifully. 11DN was like that too.

I don't get how 1AC works either, Anthony, but I do understand the other ones you mentioned.

ROSE - O in COAST.

And 22dn does read very well. A lyrical definition to redouble the politics.

Ah, well, DA, our anonymous setter can perhaps feel the pain you wrote of. I had

CRASSEST = C (circa, during) + REST (cruise) including ASS (lass, missing L for love).

Back to one in a row, I guess.

Grats on getting 26 across without the first letter!

If it's not pushing it, I'd value the wordplay explained on 11 down. I'm happy to believe 19 across is just a bit clunky.

A confession - I had crassest too. No wonder we couldn't work it out. I was going to wait and see how I went with my remaining two before spilling the beans on that one. I still have 13DN and 26AC to go.

11DN: S(small)+ RITUAL(practice)+ IS absorbed by PIT(mine)

Oh, and 19AC:

EU (27 states) having passed or overtaken AD (bill) + I(one). 'Left, making this' is the definition.

You realise, Anthony, it's going to be much harder to beat your PB now.

Thanks, RK. Given I'd put together all those elements except for pit, perhaps I should have been less lazy and figured out the three letters I was missing! But somehow it just wasn't happening for me...

Left, making this seems a pretty ordinary definition to my mind. I'll stick with clunky. I'd thought left might be indicating that I was left of EU (superfluously).

But no, keeping the PB at one consecutive victory makes it just as easy. Plus it saves me worrying about the danger of raising it as high as three in a row ;-)

Gday Stephen - looking back - 10ac in the Monday puzzle entails 'drinks' as a verb, looking back, while the monks are generally Eastern.

6dn packs a wallop, as she says.

Finally got it out this morning. I was not allowed to unwrap today's paper from its plastic until I had yesterday's solved (just to keep me honest).

Got held up on 13DN because I had TAKE A SHOT instead of LIKE A SHOT. But then I thought of MADRID and it all fell into place. I too am DEEPLY impressed that DA could get 26AC from _ _ E _ L _, but I think that after doing so many of these Times puzzles he probably sees 'river' and immediately thinks DEE, TEES or CAM.

And now for the next one. Does it never end?

Thank you so much DA.... I got 10ac last night when it finally dawned on my the type of monk required!

I think you are suggesting that 6 down is SMASHER but I have no idea at all how it works!

Hi Stephen. Yes 6DN was SMASHER. Mostly elegant is SMART - T = SMAR. Woman is SHE. So 'clothe' SHE with SMAR and you get SMASHER, or a smartly dressed woman.

Quite enjoyed Times 8989. I liked 15AC and 25AC and thought the definition was well disguised in 17AC. My daughter may have solved 26AC if she could read, as she's a big fan.

My score is now one in a row.

I'm afraid I'm behind you - 23 down and 20 down both confounded me. But it was a nicely done collection.

Finished Times 8990 in record time. Definitely the easiest one in a while. I don't understand 12AC though. Or the first word of 5DN. I will think about those a little harder.

I agree, it seems much easier. Have only the NW corner left, largely because...there are two perfectly acceptable options for 1ac. What is it with 1ac this week?!

I have a 5 dn that looks like it must be the answer, but it also gives me wordplay hassles, and a horrible letter to end 5 ac.

Done DA's one yet? Snap...

Doh. Other than that O, there's not many letters that fit between a D and an H, though in the end, I got 5ac by remembering to ignore the surface meaning.

12ac makes more sense in English rather than another language, if that makes it clearer.

Nope, still don't get 12AC. Is it cricket related or is that a red herring?

(And yes, DA is also complete. Lots of fun, as usual.)

Hey gang - back from the Archie hustings. Bowled over both Times with minimal fuss, and a few queries as well. More to come.

Welcome back DA. Anthony and I have been holding the fort here at Times Central, but it's good to have you back. Maybe you can shed some light on 12AC for me.

Gday RK + Anthony - here's my take:

I + XI = 12, or one hundredth of 1200 (MCC). Pretty flaky, but that's the logic.

My qualm is part 2 of 22ac's wordplay. I get the sensitivity, but not the work...

8dn was apt, given this week's trip, though if Amanda did a 14ac, I'd be 10dn.

I think 'at work' is IN, as in 'the doctor is in' perhaps.

Thanks for the maths lesson too. I went down that path for a while, but didn't quite make the connection.

Nice work spotting the theme...and done without a hint of 16 dn too...

Seeing as you're back 'in' DA, any suggestions on wordplay for 5 dn? For that matter, I'm not impressed with 23 dn or 25 ac, and 2 dn seems to rely on a pretty weak abbrev...oh, wait, just saw that it relies on a different weak abbrev, so ignore that.

A fair bit of 1 across in there, I suspect!

It must be an easy one, since I'm currently standing on all-but-4. If you add that to the 4 I currently have in 8989, I get a whole crossword. Right?

8991 completed with question marks over 12A, 21A, 26A and 27A. I haven't heard of the latter three but am confident (given the wordplay). I have heard of 12A but not in the context of the defn (or what I presume to be the defn).

(Sunday Times completed with the exception of 22D)

Do you think this puzzle's theme is 'How to use high-scoring Scrabble letters'?

I really enjoyed this one. There were some very tricksy defs and clever wordplay. The only part that troubled me was the SE corner, then once I got 24DN it all fell out. (Can't believe 24DN held me up for as long as it did considering how obvious it was and my profession. But in my defence, I'm a choral conductor and we don't tend to use them.)

I've got a bit of an issue with the pronunciation of 5DN and not quite sure how the definition exactly works with 19DN. Liked the taps in 1DN and thought 26AC very cleverly worded.

Whoever this compiler is, I like his/her style.

Not sure the compiler, but a double pangram (where every letter appears at least twice) is a major coup.

That feat alone was the key to unlock the tricky 29ac, which I still don't fully grasp. But a lot of innovation and intricacy in this one - the pick of the week.

My faves were 25dn, and RK's bete noir, 24dn.

29AC is a fantastic clue, DA. It works perfectly in my opinion. Which bit don't you grasp?

Is leading lady ER? I'm trying to work Jack/King/Queen into the whole but maybe I'm stretching things.

'Couple coming after I' is JK (alphabetically). They 'have embraced' ER (leading lady) and you know the rest...

I guess it's in keeping with the alphabet theme.

FARKT: Nothing to crow about