EV 1028 Small Change by Piccadilly

[Twit-Who]

18 across is not in Chambers 2011! Understandably setters may have used previous editions when compiling these crosswords but if the preamble goes to the trouble of mentioning that a place name is not given let's get it right.

[DocHH]

Hello Twit-who,
18a is in my Chambers (2003), but not the main section. Did you spot the grid length glitch at 23d, or was it a small change? Quite straightfoward grid fill this week, perhaps even a little too simple. Even the instruction appeared without difficulty!

[devadolly]

Hello! It has to be easy..................dimbo here has managed it! How is everyone, will just have to N & C to fill in the space.

[gen2]

Yes devadolly, very easy - in fact my fastest completion of an EV.
And No DocHH, I didn't spot that glitch at 23d - it certainly didn't hold me up.

I'll now have to look elsewhere for mental stimulation.

[dr b]

I think I finished this one faster than the Sunday Times this week.

Temperatures back up to 100 today and forecast for highs above 100 for the next 4 days. And of course, no rain. Even the mighty Mississippi River is approaching record low levels. A good day to hunker down in the basement and watch golf.

[Twit-Who]

I didn't spot the glitch at 23 down - I wouldn't make a very good editor either but then it's not my job. Well spotted DocHH. I prefer the Chambers 2003 edition but then its not the one recommended. I agree with all that this was barely up to EV standard but I suppose it's an encouragement to newcomers.

[Christiana]

Nothing to add, really. Just reporting in to say 'hello' and, if I dare ask, see how fruit, grass etc. is going, Devadolly

[DocHH]

Hello everyone,
Just a bit of N&Cing, have been sitting on the patio, in a comfortable 26ish°C/80°F. listening to a fledgling wren in a horizontal conifer, peeping to a parent for more food! Unfortunately there is a predatory tail-less siamese cat lurking around and I suspect it has also tuned into the call for food. Have tried to deter it, but it keeps coming back.
Soon be time to prepare a lightish tea of toast and paté, and wensleydale with apricots. Will wash it down with some Cabernet Sauvignon!
Summer seems to have arrived at last, long may it last!

[novalis]

Nothing to add. Spotted the 29 down glitch. It has meant that I have been able to spend the day gainfully employed but am now on a preprandial shiraz.

[devadolly]

Hello All and Christina particularly, the raspberries are waning (TG!) one blackcurraqnt bush is stripped and pruned and as I posted before (altho' it hurts me greatly) the red-curranta are left to the blackbirds and thrushes! Today was supposed to be a day when Himself and I went to a friend's for a lovely lunch and esoteric chat, no chance........the catchy weather (please do not brag about S Coast weather DocHH, it is both cruel and inappropriate when so many livlehoods depend upon it (not to mention the food on your supermarket shelf)) has meant that the latest 20 acres destined for big bales was sodden and the grass had to be 'gone through' half a dozen times to dry it off before the contractors came to bale it. All's well that ends well as they arrived at 1.30 and finished at 5.30pm before the next belt of rain arrived. I feel for them (the contractors) as they have another 50 acres to do before either bedtime or they are rained off. Instead of the estoteric.....and someone else cooking and serving, I made some scones and provided snacks for 6, weeded 3 overgrown flower beds, dug some spuds, fed the cake for the 'big birthday do' on 25th August, did 3 lots of washing and re-potted the Olive tree........all in all, how the H did I think I could waste a fine Sunday..............?! Am now going to do the Griddler with a very large G & T (tragically not a Hendrick's, merely a supermarket plonk) whilst I wait for the spuds (dug earlier) to cook

[DocHH]

Sorry Devadolly if I sounded as if I was bragging. I was just telling like it was and trying to prompt some N&C. Yesterday was the first day in at least 5 weeks when it has been dry enough that I have been able to mow! Today was the first that it has been possible to actually enjoy the garden.
I fully appreciate the difficult situation you are experiencing in your industry, in the dim and distant past when I was employed, some of my colleagues had family members in farming, arable, sheep, pigs, turkeys and as originally a townie, I have been re-educated about what arrives on my plate via the supermarket!
Just out of interest, do you get letters from our Alma Mater asking for donations? I do, but politely decline?
Enjoy that very large G&T! A refill is well deserved! How is ginger mog?

[Christiana]

My raspberries are beginning to wane, too, but a few to go yet. The blackcurrants are not so prolific this year but there are still lots to go. Two pear trees, but only one pear between them. I was away from home when they blossomed but presume the frost got them. My apple trees were pruned severely last year so was expecting less apples, but they also seem much less healthy. I'm sad about that but relieved there won't be as many apples, as a good few always go to waste. Both my peach trees suffered from the worst peach leaf curl I've ever seen. No peaches, but one of the trees has now recovered. The other appears to be dead, but will have to wait for next season to be sure. Strawberries have been a big flop - consumed by blackbirds and swamped by horsetail. There are still a few coming, though.
The weather was warm and dry here today, for the first time in ages. Glad the grass was finally baled, DD, but sounds like a very hectic time for all concerned. My gardening is very small scale compared with what you are contending with.

[ringer]

Hi All. Agreed this was way too easy, especially when I've now finished work for six weeks (although loads to do before I go back). I suppose the theme might have been more challlenging to younger solvers. Garden very soggy - our raspberries are the autumn variety but caught my husband eating some rogue ones that had already ripened! Car desperately needs washing thanks to the desert rain but have been living next door to a mini building site for the last few weeks and dust is still flying around so that job can wait. Interesting DocHH that you mention your alma mater asking for donations - mine does too on a regular basis. Am wondering just what the money is used for. Enjoy the sun everyone!

[devadolly]

Only moaning because you have better weather DocHH! Yes I do get requests but usually to do mentoring! Good thing I don't accept, I would be accused of leading these young things astray as I wouldn't follow the PC line.......
Christina, my sloe bushes have got terrible PLC, never had it before.....why? Will they recover? What to do about it? I have only a single pear too, it wasn't frost here but it being too cold for the bees to be active, similarly, altho' the James Grieve is laden the big Howgate is very sparse this year. I haven't beenn to have a look at the cherry plums yet but a friend reports that her damson crop should just run to enough for the Christmas damson gin! Small mercy's I suppose. The Red-currants have also been odd, 2 bushes are loaded and two have only tiny currants?????? The loganberry has just started producing 'proper' berries as all the earlier ones were tiny and wizened, not even fit for jam.
What sun ringer? You make the most of it, it's back to normal again here cold wind and a hint of rain in the air, peace & quiet in here tho' as Himself is busy carting those lovely black parcels in before the magpies or the vandals rip them to shreds. I will be back to the met man every two minutes to see when we can get stuck into the next 20 acres.

[kayakamina]

Hi All.

The Golf & the cricket meant I only looked at this EV last night.

I have to agree with others that it was on the easy side, and at one point I thought I would fulfil a dream of completing it in strict clue order.

[Spreadman]

You've got pears!! We haven't got any this year. The comice and william didn't even set. The conference had a few but they dropped. Last year we had more than we knew what to do with. Blackcurrents are down but the berries are big. Gooseberries, however are the best we've ever had. Very big due to the rain and fantastic taste. The james grieve is struggling. Devadolly, is the hay you have just gathered your first cut this year?

[Christiana]

The plums are looking good. I have one small gooseberry bush - didn't know I had it until I found it and moved it in with the blackcurrants late last year. Only a few gooseberries, but fat, juicy and red. I'm so ignorant I didn't know you could have red gooseberries. They're delicious.

[Spreadman]

Hi Christiana
Red gooseberries tend to be more of a dessert gooseberry and the green varieties tend to be more for cooking but both types can be used for both purposes .

[devadolly]

Hello All, Christina sounds like Whinhams Industry Goosberry you have, they are lovely if you can keep them protected from the birds, never managed it with mine! If you have plums, I had better go and check the cherry plums to see if there is a worthwhile crop there.
Spreadman, it's not hay that we grow, it's haylage, half-way between hay, which has to be bone dry before baling and the just wilted grass of chopped silage. It is very good for horses as it doesn't go dusty like true hay can do. The bullocks will eat absoluely anything. It's the second 20 acres they are just carting in now ...... in the rain would you believe! We now have to wait for another break in the weather to try again.

[Spreadman]

Devadolly, hope you get a second cut this year.