Lyndon @ Adonis Blue

Completed this morning whilst listening to the sacred music of Arvo Pärt, the perfect refuge from the climate of political ugliness currently prevailing.

I solved everything but the two missing letters required to form “statice”, a genus of sea-lavender and a pretty “maritime plant”, so I wouldn’t have won this week, not that it ever seems possible!

This one took me rather more time than I can afford to waste, largely owing to the somewhat tedious sense of humour of its compiler, but also owing to a certain sluggishness on my part. I still nailed it, making the score two out of three from this book, which I intend to complete before the crack of doom.

A change from reading Der Zauberberg & Purgatorio in bizarre parallel. Down to the flatlands from two extraordinary mountains.

I’m still not sure how “peacekeeper” works, but it couldn’t be anything else. I was glad to complete this after failing on number one. LJ

13 Down took a while. I subsequently discovered that the definition “EVA” refers to “extra-vehicular activity” in the esoteric language of NASA.

15 Across eluded me, perhaps unsurprisingly.

I’d like to think I’m getting better at these, though this one was probably merely easier than usual.

I was experiencing some difficulty, then “twerp” led me to “Amenhotep”, whereafter things went smoothly. Patience is crucial. LJ

Rather too easy to be satisfying, I’d say.