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Has it really been 9 weeks since the 4000th anniversary - how time flies.

Not too difficult this week or, as Geeker might say, YMMV.

A couple of points ...

3d - Should it not be 'choosing "of" a time to meet' for it become a noun?

22d - Isn't there an "r" in the 'notes no longer valid'?

COD - I liked 2d, 2d and 21d - all short but elegant with good surfaces.

Geeker, bet you were surprised to see a compatriot's name turn up in an Everyman 😉

Thanks to Everyman:-)

Leave a post letting us know how you got on.

Stay safe:-)

Thanks, Everyman. Back to more accessible form after a string of stern compilations. I see the rhyming pair, arguably pairs this week, plus the longish one-word anagram.

Brendan, you mean the tennis star? Not surprising to me. Tennis is much more popular in Europe and the UK than in USA, and this (avoiding spoilers) was a major one.

Clue 3 did seem a bit odd to me, the only one that wasn't a write-in or nearly so. Can't comment on 22: was happy just to get it, not being a native.

FOI 1a, LOI 21.
Will go with the longer hidden (clearly Everyman doesn't go by the Times setter manual 🤣 ) as COD.

I do mean the tennis star - I remember her and JC made quite the couple - although while she seemed genuinely nice, I really didn't like him.

I never liked those brash loudmouth tennis stars, either JC or JMcE, though they were of course great players. Always liked the player in question. Sadly, her relationships / marriages didn't seem to work out well...she had to pay the skier a King's ransom of a settlement 😕, and the golfer was a disaster. ☹️

Hi Brendan,
I don't understand your query with 22 and I wonder if there's a different parsing. While I don't live in the UK I assume its the same as NZ where the banknotes in question have been replaced by coins. Loved the novel primarily.

Hi Paul,

22d - It could well be correct, all I'm saying is that in Chambers, there is an R before the last letter to specify that it's a banknote rather that simply a quantity of that banknote.

If I haven't made that explanation confusing or bewildering enough - please let me know, I'm sure I can do better 😂

My FOI and LOI were the same as Geeker’s, I agree that 3d doesn’t seem quite right but as a UK resident, 22d seems fine to me. Generally a quicker solve for me, cheers Everyman

Ok, just for clarity,

22d - for the sake of simplicity let's ignore the fact it's plural and drop the S at the end. Now, if I say to someone "can you give me a 22d" - unless I'm pointing at something, in this case a banknote, how would they know what I wanted. However, if I add an R to the end and now I say "can you give me a ???r" - the Chambers dictionary will tell you I mean "a £1 banknote".

Brendan, isn't 3D a double definition with the first word as one definition and the rest of the clue as another (both nouns)?

But "choosing" is a verb not a noun.