Merlot is a variety of GRAPE. A success can be a HIT. Put HIT inside GRAPE and you get GRAPHITE, the ‘lead’ that is in pencils (writers).

😑

Glad you smiled

Kath is also right about ratings varying wildly between people. I’ll add — while appreciating the irony of saying this in comments which indicate that I’ve given this not a little thought! — that I think they shouldn’t be taken too seriously. They’re meant to be just a bit of fun — and the fact that I want to analyse them is just my idea of fun because I like making graphs. (You can call me a weirdo, but there are worse ways to be weird.)

Getting slightly annoyed by seeing 2* all the time I think mainly just stems from the feeling that some people might be put off seeing all the puzzles rated easy by regular commenters, especially as it could give the impression that we are experts, rather than a self-selected group of people who just like to comment on the crosswords, and have a bit of a chat.

I’ll shut up in just a sec (I can almost hear the hurrahs from here) … but will just add one thing. I think maybe benchmark is a better term to describe 3*. Certainly I’m happy to average higher than that for enjoyment. After all, we find most crosswords enjoyable — or we wouldn’t do them — and it feels rude to rate lower than 3* unless there is a particular reason. So never mind!

Like me…

I approve – good name, short and sweet.

I’ve been for a minor operation on my head today – which included a small skin graft – I’m trying not to burst the stitches by sitting slumped in the chair – I wouldn’t recommend it – the operation that is, not being slumped in the chair!

Boy.
Named Paul, I would like to think the baby is named after yours truly, but the parents are big fans of the great british bakeoff, so I have my doubts!!

It was an oh dear day for me,

Me too

You’re not going to get away with it, all grandparents have to tell whether girl or boy and name names! Out with it.

I went down that path too! Had the setter put jet instead of dog it would have been so much easier to solve 🙂

Yes, no qualifications needed – the use of ratings rather than times is intended to level the playing field and allow everyone to offer their assessment without feeling small if they are slower or boasting if they are faster.

Kath is right that 3* should be average. The difficulty ratings actually given for the back page, however, average at nearer 2* (at some point when I have the chance I will crunch the numbers and share the findings). I stop myself getting grumpy at this by just pretending that people are rating out of 3!

I think somebody said recently that they hardly ever get up to 3* difficulty on page puzzles, and I remember thinking, how can you consistently beat your own average? not even Magoo could do that!

Octavian was named as Caesar’s adoptive son and heir in Caesar’s will.

Thanks to the setter and Kath.

Thanks for the congrats yesterday, Merusa.
Mother and baby doing well.

My favourite was 3d.

Thanks to today’s setter and to Kath.

I can’t tell you how much time I wasted looking for a terrier bird!

Rather liked 26a&22d with top spot being shared by 1d and the Quickie pun.

Thanks to Mr. Ron and to Kath for another well-illustrated blog. I thought your 22d looked quite friendly!

Yes – I agree about the Quickie Pun. I did both crosswords before I’d fetched the paper so didn’t have the italics to help – I was slightly at sea until I realised that the first four clues were involved.

I don’t think there’s any specific qualification needed to award stars – it’s really just a personal thing and reflects how you felt about the crossword – sometimes the various ratings awarded by commentors vary wildly. Both the difficulty and enjoyment go from 1* to 5* so, by my reckoning anyway, that means that 3* is average – if you felt that a crossword was either less difficult or enjoyable then just award fewer stars and the same goes for the other direction.

My wife and I have just returned from a sunny walk and lunch in Lyme Regis. I am still in touch with friends who started at Exeter College at the same time. My room-mate in my first year had a girlfriend who was a local nurse (can’t remember her name, unfortunately) but at the time I had a girlfriend in London, so I didn’t mix with the local nurses.

Sorry, Octavian was Caesar’s nephew. I do agree that 28a need not be large. In fact the original craft seen on the Coromandel coast were fairly small and the Tamil word from which 28a is derived means pieces of wood lashed together.

Many thanks to our setter ant to Kath.

I was going to ask the same question about 11a pic. Were we twins separated at birth?

Welcome from me too.
Re 12a – I wasn’t suggesting it was a new breed of dog but it was certainly one I’d never met before. The BRB says, ‘A medium-sized keen-scented dog for hunting hares’. Most of the pics I found looked pretty much like what I would call a fox-hound.

Welcome to the blog, Mike N.

Very gentle stuff today. Liked 5d, 7d and last in 22d.

**/***

Favourite 28a.

Thanks to the setter and Kath.

Many thanks to the compiler and Kath.

Many thanks setter and Kath

I wasn’t complaining or being sarky – I do quite like it. Sort of an extra “woman’s touch” in pink.

Rats – I was hoping that no-one would notice! I was on automatic pilot by that stage and put in the spoiler instead of underling it as the definition. I saw what I’d done and tried to sort it out but it just didn’t want to play nicely and I decided to leave it and quit while I was winning rather than risk the whole lot disappearing. Oh dear!

We all arrived in Oxford on 1st September fifty years ago. Six of us who shared a house all had a good gab and lots of reminiscing on the phone on that day and are planning a proper get together later in this month – amazing that we’re still in touch let alone that we all still get on so well. Where were you – suppose we might have met!!

Many thanks to Mr Ron and to Kath.