Style Summit [Aug 29 - Sep 3]

9095 done and an enjoyable tussle. First in 15A last 10A.lots to test the vocal and general knowledge here. Loved 12A and 5D. 19A was familiar for some reason...

Well, Bon, all I can say is well done. It's late enough for me to give up, and I note that one of the English experts declared this one the hardest he'd seen in years, and he was being literal.

Never heard of 1ac, but that's not saying much for this vocab list; 11ac was dastardly, not least because 23ac put me off it; 8dn was mean (HURT, anyone?); 15dn gets my meh for the day; 1 got 22ac, but found the definition so poor that I didn't trust it.

On the other hand, I did enjoy watching 'Word Play' today. Maybe I should go for 100 NYT crosswords instead...

Buckle up, solvers. Times 9096 is equally savage. Over Weeties, I solved a meagre 10. Though at least the letter selection is kinder today, with ample consonants of the Scrabbly kind.

You're two ahead of me, DA. I never thought 3dn would be the word I needed to get going!

Upped stumps again. Too little progress to try the final push. Frankly, I'm impressed I got this far - it was a hard nut. Some excellent and deceptive surfaces...so I missed 24dn, for instance. Never would have guessed 17ac because the defn was unfamiliar. And 23ac the whole word was a stranger. But at least I got 14ac out.

In the presence of greatness this week.

It's the small ones that you've gotta watch. Think I have 3 of them nailed with a punt on the last. Radio spell indeed!

Hurrah. One done and correct this week...though it doesn't help that 11dn has two pretty equally viable answers there. Perhaps 15ac almost had two legit parsings to get to the same right answer in compensation!

A number of unknowns in the SE corner, but nothing too tricky to fill in with 7dn.

One in a row for me :)

DA, I've booked my seat at the Style Council on the 10th. Will be good to catch up with you.

Re the Times, I'm back to zero again, having fluffed two (yes, two!) of those damn 4s in 9096. Knew it.

I'll give 9097 a crack later in the evening.

Jeez we're a bit quiet on this thread this week guys...

9097 and 9098 in the bag (I hope).

There's some really clever stuff in 9098, like 17A, 5D and 7D. It's not hard for a Friday.

First in 12D, last 19D. Enjoy!

I'm as much at fault. Life has grabbed my Quality Solving Time this last week or so. Either quizzing or Festing or making my own conundrums.
But more than happy to throw this forum open every week, and hope to resume before too long. Thanks Bon. D

Me, I'm blaming RK. Where's she got to, I wonder??

9098 done too. 23ac was my last in, being unfamiliar with the wordplay element. Some rather rare words, but so well described by the wordplay that I got through.

Good call, Anthony. Where is the one & only RK? Maybe weaning off the wordplay? Or offshoring perhaps? Either way, her grace and sass are missed. And I only bought 9098 at 8pm, en route to see Cats unplug the Pies - so no progress to report.

Well done, and apols for the hands-off hosting.

Yikes - some obscurities in 9099, a reality check after some huge gimmes to get off to a flying start. Pleased to escape that one. Enjoyed the humour of 6dn1

#9099. All but 3. A hint for 26A? I have the second letter as A.

@Rob - being the weekend edition, hinting's still off limits till tomorrow, I think. But you're right with the A, and the clue is the hardest one for a non-UK solver to get, I suspect.

If you can figure out the final letter from the down clue, you'll have a much better chance, because then you'll have enough letters to 'sound it out', so to speak.