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The Sunday Times setter, Dean Mayer, always provokes a groan in my household but we usually persevere because even Dean Mayer is better than nothing.

This week he seems to have excelled himself - words that are barely synonymous, clues that are ridiculously convoluted and obscure to the point of obtuseness. Has anyone heard of the phrases 'hot doggers' to mean show-offs or 'go postal' to mean lose it? I accept that both exist but that is hardly the point.

I was about to write to the Sunday Times about it but wonder whether it's just me? Sometimes the way a setter's mind works just doesn't chime with yours and that's hardly the setter's fault, so am hesitating.

What do other people think?

Hot-dogger and go postal are both very familiar to me, but I have an excuse: I'm an American.

Go postal is an Americanism, I believe. something to do with lots postmen shooting customers. All the rage in Oklahoma in the 80s.

Hot dogging, I think comes from skiing, sort of showing off with flash tricks. There is an alternative definition in Urban Dictionary, but I thin k it unlikely the setter was using it.

Of all the setters for the Sunday Times prize crossword, I do find Dean Mayer a bit of a struggle sometimes (well nearly all of the time).

However, I must admit that when you have managed to solve his clues they do make sense even if somewhat obscure and I also feel very pleased when I finish.

When I first started trying to solve his puzzles I would have considered myself fortunate to get a couple of clues right without help but they seem to come easier these days albeit I still need help from my trusty Chambers crossword dictionary . So I would say please persevere.

btw - this week's offering was the hardest I've seen for a while.

I don't generally do the ST so have no experience of the setter in question. I have, however, enjoyed this thread and was amazed to learn that Aristophenes is American.
I've heard of hot dogging in skiing but not of theuse of 'hot dogger' to mean show-off and wouldn't have got or guessed 'go postal' in a month of Sundays.
I doubt that writing to the paper is worth the effort and think your philosophical acceptance of the difference in mind-sets is probably wiser. I hope that the positive comments you have had will be some reassurance...

@ kitabu - this article might let you view him in a more favourable light :)

http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2011/nov/10/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-anax

Thanks red elf, a very interesting insight even though I'm not a solver of any of his puzzles.

Hello Kitabu, yes I can see why anyone would find Dean Mayer's clues frustrating, and you could say 'that's the point, isn't it?...' I entered the clue writing contest for ages and sometimes Peter Biddlecombe 'dumped' my clues in the 'other clues' section, citing specific reasons. Which is his job. But I've noticed lots of times the transgressions he disallowed have been used in actual ST crosswords, so there are double standards here. The point I'm getting to is that Mr Biddlecombe told me that Collins is the prime dictionary for cluewriting, yet 'go postal' is not in this, or in Chambers, or even the Shorter Oxford! There is an email address for feedback on the puzzles page, by the way.

"Going postal" I knew well as it is the title of a Terry Pratchett novel. However this thread (and Wikipedia) has shown me that I had no idea of what the expression actually meant.

Going postal doesn't usually involve postal customers, as harbinger suggests, but rather fellow employees and overlords; a disgruntled worker (or former worker) will open fire in, say, a mail-sorting facility. This truly has happened often enough to make the expression somewhat apt. It's annoying to hear it used by young space cadets though- "He like went postal on me."