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I think the clue and answer to 1a in The Times No. 26174 is very good.

Elle, the sugar came off the ration in 1953.

Hello, Pigale!
I sympathise with your Cumbrian friends.
I have family in Donegal and they are the same.
Today there is another example.
Setter refers to The Strand, which I believe is a thoroughfare in London.
Now, in Donegal, and most of Ireland, if you mentioned the strand, they would assume you were talking about a sandy beach.
This crossword is syndicated to the New York Post and The Australian, so goodness knows what they make of it.
It is a fine afternoon up here in Scotland.
How is your weather, Pigale?

Hi, Rusty!
We've just come back from the park - the main gates are still locked to prevent the gipsies/ pikeys coming back! This is greatly restricting the parking facilities, and local residents are muttering about wanting a rebate on their Council taxes! Anarchy rules!
Regarding Windows 10.... what puzzled me was the statement that if the option to update wasn't taken up within a certain period, then one would have to pay? I've never been told that before about any other update?
Congratulations to all your young relatives and friends in Donegal on doing so well in their exams!
I heave heard that Trinity College is an excellent University!
I hadn't thought that our A-level results here were out yet? I thought it was later this week but could be completely wrong!
What about your granddaughter's results? Does she have those yet? Are they also out today?
Now, I'm all for taking a stand over something if needed!
I brought my girls and my son up never to be afraid to "stand up and be counted"!!
But I think you might be banging your head against a brick wall if you try to take on 'The Times'!
Yes, Barking is in East London ( London borough of Barking and Dagenham) - reputed to be one of the worst places to live in the UK!
I can see why you are so annoyed; I feel similar outrage at the numerous cricket clues The Times produces!
But I guess it's par for the course.....(.might as well throw in a golf reference .......)

Don't forget, if the cloud clears, it's Perseid meteor shower night.

Hi again Rusty,

Back from the Vet with half asleep mummy cat !

Weather ; VERY HOT - 34 C in shade ! Due to have storms somewhere around us at some stage tomorrow, but it's all vague.

I did visit London a couple of times and there are some names that I know, like Marble Arch (Saturday's Cryptic), and I have not done today's yet, so thanks for info ! I know it though but whether I would have recognized it in the clue remains to be seen. If the setters keep to very well known places (Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, etc..., then even folks from abroad have a chance - but not obscure places.

Albie, the clue is very good, indeed.
If you know there is a place in London called Barking.
Many of us don't.
We do not live in the same country, never mind London.
Too parochial, in my view.

Good evening, Elle, from sunny Scotland!
I sympathise about the travellers.
We have bother here with them, too.
I have never had a Windows update, but this one, they say, is free. They must want as many as possible on it.
I think they are doing away with Internet Explorer, too.
They have something else lined up. The Edge, or somesuch, not the lad in U2!
I only know about the Irish Leaving Certs.
One lad, in Clare, I think, got 9 A's. Good?
And a Donegal girl got A in self-taught Japanese!
Miss L Plate got her results about a week or two ago.
3A's and a C.
Elle, I am not irked by The Times, but I should not have to know the names of Tube stations in London.
Too parochial.
What about places in Liverpool, or Aberdeen, for a change?
I have learned a heap from you about London that I never knew!
I think it was in the late fifties/early sixties, that The Times Crossword got a new editor. He came in, and told the setters (15 of them) to produce modern crosswords, and not what they had been doing for years.
Up to then, it would take a scholar in Classics to complete them. Greek tragedians, Latin Poets, etc, and they were very boring as well.
This editor got rid of all that.
So....time for another new Crossword editor!

Hi, Rusty!
Well done to Miss L- Plate! Those are excellent grades! She must be very pleased. Presumably she can now go to the Uni/college of her choice?
So sugar was rationed until 1953? Goodness me, then I must have been aware of the shortage, but really I cannot remember.
Interestingly though, I do not have a sweet tooth at all - I don't take sugar in any drink, and really cannot stomach sweet tasting things. I wonder now with (much delayed!) hindsight if this is a throwback to not having had sugar at a young age?
I never thought of it before, but possible, don't you think?
I had an email from Amazon telling me that my Brewers was on its way - but so far it hasn't yet reached me. Maybe tomorrow .
Have you started Father Flanagan yet? I am interested to know what you think of it when you do read it?
I am about to start "They called it Passchendaele" (have I spelt that correctly?)

Hello Elle,

I boughjt a DVD about Passchendaele a few years ago - don't know if it was based on your book. I found interesting, but mostly I thought it was very sober, very respectful.

Yes, Elle, go to the top of the class for spelling!
I now think it may have been 2 A's.
Yes, she is going to Uni.
Your sugar theory could be correct.
Sugar is not required in the diet.
At the moment I am working my way through Five Families. Quite good.
I could not praise They Called it Passchendaele highly enough. An excellent account of the battle.
All Hail, Lyn MacDonald!
She lives near you, you know, in London?
I think you should visit her.
With an Eccles cake.