Order Paper [April 11-16]

Acre is a city in Israel that was important strategically (and economically) during the Crusades.

Aha DC, thank you. My sacred theory must derive from the Apocryphal Bible.

Haven't seen the full solution yet, but I know I have at least one wrong - HIPS. I'm sure there are more to come...

As much as I ended up loathing that crossword, there were some clues that redeemed it. I loved the BC one, and ARCHIMEDES. And is it the first time there has been a Twitter related clue in the Times?

Someone else may need to hold the fort as your (un)lucky charm for the rest of the week as I'm off to the Breeza Plains tomorrow.

Yes, whips = steals. "Whip it quick".

Do plants other than roses have hips?

This clue reminds me of my primary school, both with the dishonest tykes who were my classmates, and the frequent serving of semolina and rose hip syrup for dessert.

Yes, whip does mean steal in one sense. Informal and obscure, though. WD for getting it.

UGLI, HIP and HAW: the cruciverbal fruits of choice, just begging for a tasteless joke.

AS we are talking generally--
may I propose a rating scale for x-words, hereafter 'the Ribble Scale'
1-10 for accuracy/precision
1-10 for aesthetics
1-10 for chutzpah, innovativeness, that 'I'm really glad I did that one' feeling
yielding 3 numbers and a total
eg DA's Saturday Age [Tables] I'd go for:
7 [eg Shylock wasnt a usurer, {one who charges excessive rates of interest} just a money-lender {the pound of flesh was a defaulting charge it wasnt interest}]
7 -- too many black squares in total ie too many short lights ... and for me, top left square shld normally be start of a word
8 -- nice idea, fun
Total = 22 nae bad!

Interesting - the reference to Wernham Hogg is something I wouldn't expect to see in a Times puzzle. You expect the occasional modern cultural reference but The Office (which IMHO is one of the best comedy progs of all time) could be regarded as someone niche knowledge among a newspaper readership which - let's be honest - isn't renowned for liking funny things.

The comment about the grid is interesting too. Some new grids were introduced about a year ago which featured no long answers; it was felt that because all the existing grids had these it was making it difficult for setters to invent new takes on long phrases without having to immediately resort to anagrams. Setters are restricted to the equivalent of 6 full anagrams per puzzle, and long answers can rapidly cut into the quota, potentially spoiling good anagram opportunities elsewhere.

The puzzle number 8974 is a long way behind where the UK grids are (approaching 30,000) so I don't know what your puzzle grid looks like, but I'm guessing it's one of the new ones.

You're joking! You get given a grid and told to fill it?! Do they recruit editors from the civil service or something? ;-)

Presuming this is the case, super extra kudos for any time you manage to find a theme and shoehorn it in.

Hi Anthony.
To a degree, times are changing in grid-world because crossword software makes grid design easy. Back in the day, a new grid involved some art department bod having to manually create it, so the Times ended up with 90 or so set grids (now increased to 99) which it continues to use. There was some discussion a while back about moving to free grid design but the majority of setters felt that the existing set sort of trademarked the Times style (same as the 'no living persons apart from the Queen' rule, no splitting of answers between different lights, no themes, a stringent set of acceptable single-letter abbreviations etc etc) and I tend to agree with that - every newspaper series should have an intrinsic house style.

The Independent is different; there are no set grids, so setters design them on the fly and frequently incorporate themes/Ninas.

The Guardian has 'house' grids too, but over the past year or so there have been quite a few I've never seen before - maybe the rule there is being relaxed? The same appears to be true of the Telegraph. The FT is probably the most restrictive - I think there are just 15 or 16 grids in the series (and themes are allowed).

Fasinating insight, Anax. Many thanks. Here at Fairfax, we enjoy open slather with grid design, though there are some popular defaults for reasons of their compatability to some theme ideas, or general familiarity.

Must admit, that seems the more enlightened way to tread. So long as a setter plays fair with his unches, I can't see the benefit of prescribing the matrix, as The Times 'ownership' of certain b&w array has long since left the building, in my opinion.

(In fact, Anthony's assessment on pattern applied to my own puzzle, not Times 8974, which had an orthodox pattern, embracing 4x12s, and was a thorny delight, popular references and all.)

The Dundering looks set to continue, I'm afraid.

Monday was a solid test, needing a long macchiato to conquer the square.

Now Tuesday - Times 8976 - sees me with all but one answer to go. What's worse, I can't think of a word that fits this pattern:

D _ L _ G _ L _

If you tell me, then the run is done. (Coz that's outside help.) And if I can't crack it by twelve strokes, I'm struck down. At Crossword #2. I'm still blaming John Bloody Airy.

DA, hope you solve it, but can you throw in the clue? With that pattern I'm thinking compound...

Thanks Boniface, no harm done. I did slip, and that's due to my first L being incorrect.

That clue read like so:

Wise to put by new material (5) I faced this pattern: _ _ N _ N

While the main clue that snared me, 1AC in the puzzle, showed this:

D _ _ _ G _ L _

The clue read: Democrat's explanatory writing about a regressive old tax (8)

What would you do with either? Alas I jumped the wrong way. Today's 8977 is scratch, again.

The old tax is danegeld, which has an interesting history in its own right. Ninon is the material. I was in on that one.

DANEGELD rings a dim bell. GELD I know, as well as SCOT and MAIL of yore, but my true undoer was NINON, not a fabric in my ken.

In desperation, I'd bung in LINEN, arguing that wisdom can be a line, or proverb. But in hindsight, that was unwise.

Well played, sir.

What Claudius must wish he'd done long ago! To old Hamlet, the cost of Anglo-Saxon protection (8)

One and 1/2 mehs among the clues, but Times 8977 is solved. One down, 99 to go.

Thursday's child is full of grace-ful clues. A breezy joy. Only hitch was 4DN:

I bore a pistol, not large (5)

For a little while I'd figured the solution to be LUGER (a pistol) since a LUGGER bears, minus one G.... hang on -

AUGER worked better.

Inspired, I had a crack at 8977 (we don't normally buy the Oz). Slow, slow getting used to the style, got most of the way there unaided, but forced to guess some of the smaller ones in the corners. Still no idea on the wordplay! (And no answers to check)

However, I write to defend your wisdom, DA. 'Wise', as in lengthwise, otherwise, etc, looks to me to include a sense of meaning 'direction', following a 'line'. All things being equal, I'd say LINEN was a sharp answer, and better than some nonsense NINON!

Oops - the browser forgot me. That was me, cracking wise there.

NINON: "A sturdy chiffon or voile constructed in either plain or novelty weaves..."

Been around since 1915 apparently, but new to this haberdasher. Though isn't that why love crosswords - the rassle, and edification?

I had to look it up too...'nonsense' was more rhetorical than literal in its intent!

I had to look it up too...'nonsense' was more rhetorical than literal in its intent!

Not a good browser day. Sorry.

Times Friday - this compiler is my least favourite. His/her patterns are miserly (far too many unchecked squares, or unches), watery clues with a surfeit of soft letters. But I got there, while watching the rugby in the pub. That was also dire.

Back from my country sojourn (which was lovely, thank you, even with the mice plague and the frog in the toilet). Despite staying on a farm well out of town, I somehow managed to get a hold of The Australian each day, so my Times puzzles are up to date.

What a pity you stumbled again, DA. I would love to gloat and say I had a perfect run aided by the fresh country air, but I didn't get NINON or DANEGELD either. I also missed LORISES for some inexplicable reason.

I'm going to set my sights much lower than your century, DA, and aim for a perfect week.

(By the way, thank you for including my first three clues in the Clues of Summer. I was just going to write that one off.)

Gday RK - welcome back to the verbal fold. I like your idea of aiming for a clean week. (A bit like the footy cliche - one week at a time.)

Maybe that's why it's a cliche. Makes good sense in the rough & tumble of wordplay.