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The Spectator's Christmas puzzle this year was not a pencil-chewer: maybe too small; not devious enough; peripheral quotation too easily gotten; maybe the theme was just too well trodden, or too few unclued and hidden things to find.

Other than that I loved it!

yes i too expected a much bigger grid ... never mind ... it filled a dull morning!

Kirky - quietly I'll say it, I'm a bit disappointed - I really look forward to a zinger for Christmas and I want to be absorbed for longer and pushed a little harder.

Ah well I'll be looking out for big fat Xmas puzzles in the broadsheets instead!

Happy Christmas

KT17, I think I feel much the same as you. The puzzle was great while it lasted … but it didn't last long enough! A few tougher clues would have made us work a little harder, I wouldn't have minded that.

I agree with the above comments, more of an amuse-bouche than a full turkey dinner. Was anyone else puzzled by 3 down? There seems to be only one possibility, but I can't track down the panic and scuffle elements in Chambers. Similarly, I don't follow "Classic shipboard plants", but again, there only seems to be one possibility. I'd be pleased if anybody could clarify these two for me.

Turast, my Chambers dealt with the panic and scuffle OK - I think the definition of the answer sent me off to confirm the first part and the the 'scuffle' was covered in its definition. (I've not got access to Chambers right now.

The 'classic...' is an event and the clue answer definitely fits the other two words.

Agree with above. Very disappointing after recent Christmas efforts - shall have no excuse not to talk to the Mrs now...

Turast, I've been reunited with Chambers... The second definition of the answer to 3 D sends you to a very similar word, and one of the definitions for that is 'panic'. The answer itself is also specifically listed in the definition for 'scuffle'.

Specsaver - then perhaps Mrs Specsaver will be as disappointed in the quality of the puzzle as you! ; )

When I first subscribed to the Spectator, they had writers of the calibre of Auberon Waugh and Frank Johnson ... and the Christmas crossword was a two grid stinker that often outlasted the turkey. Nowadays we get third raters like James Delingpole and guest diarists such as Kirsty Allsop. So I guess that this limp apology for a Christmas puzzle is little surprise as the Spectator shifts from being an intellectual work-out to a lifestyle glossy putting advertisers in tough with high rollers, who are not interested that litotes is an anagram of TS Eliot as they haven't heard of either.