Thank you for the lesson in diplomacy, Mr K! But I do think you are right. I don’t particularly like the term R&W either (it is a terse/convenient abbreviation though) and 2 or 3 years ago I “admonished”a regular commenter on here (I won’t say who) for using it regularly. But not because I felt it discouraged “lurkers” from joining in with the dialogue, but because I thought it was rather disparaging to the setter (I did succumb to using it myself later, however). But considering the recent survey information, I’m quite happy to refrain from employing it in the future. Indeed, I’d be happy for it to be officially banned…

Good discussion – thanks to everyone contributing to it.

It’s evident that “read and write” and “fast” can mean very different things to different people. While there are many commenters here who aren’t bothered by such terms, we know from the recent survey that there are also many lurkers who are discouraged by them (which may explain why they are lurkers). In those circumstances it seems to me that the best way to keep everybody happy is to just avoid using them. So if R&W to you means three passes through the puzzle with some head-scratching at the end, perhaps it’s better to just say that? Similarly, relative assessments of difficulty (“less difficult than usual”, “a quicker solve than usual”) are probably preferable to absolutes (“easy”, “fast”).

Thanks, Rick. I’ve looked at that site. Very interesting. While I do love data, it does make me glad that posting solving times is not allowed here :).

We do have one measure of puzzle difficulty available to us, namely the number of times the corresponding blog is viewed — unsurprisingly, more people view the hints and tips for harder puzzles. At some point I might try to quantify that relationship.

Thanks, Jose. I’m still hoping that some of our experts will weigh in on that point.

Me too. At my age I could never read and write at that speed. My personal definition of an r & r or soon over is much slower. My yardstick for those solvings would be closer to the half hour mark. A difficult one for me is probably around a couple of hours. I really don’t have the time or the patience to spend much longer than that.

Mr K have you discovered the excellent Crossword SNITCH site for the Times puzzles? I think you would find it fascinating.

I’m asking myself: what’s the point of an “expert” doing a very easy cryptic crossword in 3 or 4 minutes, then immediately posting the “achievement”? For me R&W means most of the clues are solved immediately after reading the clue (or even before you’ve finished reading it), a few need a minute or two and one or two a little bit longer – the whole thing taking, say, 20 minutes.

There was a 4:50ish time posted within 15 minutes of the puzzle being released at midnight. I posted a link to a video a while back of Mark Goodliffe solving the more difficult Guardian cryptic in under five minutes while explaining the parsing as he made the video. The record for solving a much more difficult Times Championship puzzle is under 3 minutes. Four minutes is certainly outstanding, but it’s not at all unlikely.

Really? Reading the clues, writing the answers, even on an iPad. I thought I was fast today but the time taken to read a clue, sort a clue, write an answer in took longer than that. Four minutes? Unlikely.

For me too, but there are plenty of solvers out there completing puzzles like this in under eight minutes, including a few regular commenters on this site.

I’ve been tied up all day and unable to post until now. Perhaps I reacted strongly to all the “over quickly” comments because the survey told us that there are many lurkers out that who are discouraged by seeing a stream of comments implying that the puzzle should be easy. I’m sure that was not the intention of those posting their satisfaction at their solve, but I worry about how it comes across.

Only 3 went in on the first pass of the across clues, so no R&W, but once checking letters were revealed by a successful sortie on the down clues, all the remainder went in at a gallop. A record time, by some distance.
Just a question of being perfectly on wavelength, no doubt. And as a result, I pretty well enjoyed all of the clues.
Thanks to Mr x 2.

My subjective comments on completion rate are ‘linked’ to my ability to qualify, or not, for the time bonus points on the DT web site.

Four to eight minutes? That would be a first for me.

You’ve been missing a bit recently – welcome back!

Clue of the day 8d but many others to choose from.

1.5 / 4

Thanks to Mr K for the blog and the excellent information once again. Thanks to the setter as well.

Thanks to Mr K and setter 0.9 * / 3 *

Very straightforward puzzle. Not much else to say…

**/***

Another piece of enlightenment from this excellent blog – I thought an easy solve was 48 minutes! This was a delightful solve however and might even have been sub 40 had I not had a tiny eye closing moment along the way. Favourite among many is 1a. Many thanks to Mr. Ron and Mr K.

I’m firmly of the belief that a puzzle doesn’t have to be particularly challenging to be enjoyable, providing it is well-clued, humorous and with excellent surfaces, and this one had all such attributes and more. My top three clues were 9a, 2d and 3d.

Many thanks to today’s setter and Mr K.

The stars are purely subjective, so if you thought it was **, so be it.

Welcome to the blog, David

Thanks to setter and Mr K for the blog and background info.

To my mind terms like “read and write” and “over quickly” imply completion times in the four to eight minute range that is typical of our most accomplished solvers. I rated this crossword’s difficulty higher than the zero to one stars quoted in several places above because I took considerably longer than that to get the grid filled and everything parsed.

I did and could not get one answer. I have a big mental block with the Toughies unfortunately.
Will look forward to the hints later.

Favourite a toss-up between 28a and 18d.

Thanks to the setter and Mr Kitty.

Top three for me were 1&27a plus 21d.

Thanks to Mr Ron and to Mr K for the interesting blog and the latest selection of crossword stats – oh, to have your analytical brain!

The Toughie’s fine, Hoofit – give it a whirl.

I just love your statistical analyses, Mr. K. They bring back all those light-bulb moments on the maths corridor at school. Unlike geometry . . . .

Many thanks to Messrs R&K.

Many thanks to Mr R & Mr K.

You are probably right Mr.K., today’s cryptic was given ***!

That early Telegraph rating isn’t accurate. I have it on good authority that the Toughie today is doable.

Oops, just seen the Toughie has been given ***** for difficulty by the DT website, so time to head for the Indy.