Received RT50 yesterday, a day early. Poor Postie was having a rough time of it with the weather. The road outside was an ice rink (it still is).
I too found the clues relatively straightforward, managing to finish them all within the space of CSI, Art in Germany and the Ashes. Normally, I have to cogitate overnight or over the space of a few days before completing the grid. None of the clues seemed particularly difficult. 15A seemed to be quite an effective tease, with its suggestions of something (in my mind at least) completely different (gear boxes and cam belts, possibly) rather than the true answer. I stared at 6D for a while before spotting the answer, literally. But I'm not sure I'd describe an assemblage of the raw material for Nelson's navy as a dense 'mass', even though it is a dense something.