OK - done it. Started 11.30, finished 2.15, so 2 3/4 hours. Entirely out of my own head - no computer games, no Chambers.
No beer, this time.
(Howls, yells , screams and squeals from The Trolls: "hubris"; "up his own arse"; "yawn"; "piss-artist", "stalker" etc etc etc.)
The point I'm trying soewhat fruitlessly to make is simply that a person of decidedly average intelligence - and probably declining due to senile decay - me - can do this puzzle unaided in a reasonable time.
I've no doubt at all that phillip and trevor and many other of the 'info providers' can complete it sitting in the car outside the newsagents.
But equally obviously there are lots of people who find some answers impossible and who come to this site for help - that's presumably what the site is for?
But nobody would answer my perfectly reasonable question a couple of weeks ago:
What is the etiquette?
Presumably if I simply posted up a list of ALL the answers now, I'd be castigated as a crass spoilsport. On the other hand, do I resond generously with answers and wordplay explanations to people who ask for one to three answers, repeatedly - as I've frequently seen done?
Which raises the question: Why on earth would people who can complete this puzzle quickly hang around on this site to rush forward and help lame dogs over stiles? It's a Competition! You don't see the leaders in the Marathon running back and helping weaker competitors across the line. (and they'd be disqualified if they did).
And hang around they do - my last thread was posted at nearly midnight - I then added another note to jazzgirl less than five minutes later; and there were already two snarls posted - the Trolls must have been hovering over their screens in the night, waiting to pounce on anything that moved.
Well, interesting to see what comes back now: -