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Hello, Elle!
I am home now! Tasks complete, almost.
Have to 'phone NHS about a survey they want me to participate in, and that will be me for the day.
Had to scrape the windscreen today.
Hard frost!
Roads are fine though.
I agree, completely, regarding unfair criticism of setters.
All too easy for them to blame setters for their own failings.
I think it a very positive thing that you struggle with The Times puzzle, Elle!
That's the whole idea, surely, a battle of wits between the setter and you?
I think you are doing great, and I have not heard you complain about the setters.
Mr Rogan will be very pleased with your progress!

Hi, Rusty!
Well done on nearly completing your jobs!
That will be one of your boxes ticked!
I too have been carrying out a few chores....... but have now decided that I have fulfilled today's acceptable quota!
Anything else can wait until tomorrow.
It is time for a coffee , an apple, and a chunk of cheese!
And a stab at today's crossword!
I do my best at solving...some days are good, some....er.....not so good.... but that is how it goes!
Well, Mr R and I have exchanged a few words over the last couple of years...but usually all was resolved amicably!
I found him quite helpful, and receptive to (genuine) comment.......
Does Rose still do her column?

Rusty, thanks for the information on the Waltons. They sound a lovely bunch of people and it was great that they had many reunions. In 'Bonanza', I think it might have been Little Joe who was my favourite, but I'd need to check!

Good afternoon, Elle!
Rose does the "Feedback" column every Saturday in The Times.
I always make a point of reading it.
There is an obituary today in The Times of one of their setters.
A lady called Joyce Cansfield.
She set several puzzles a month for thirty years.
And had been British Scrabble champion, and first ever winner of Countdown.
And the 1983 Brain of Mensa.
She also set puzzles for the Listener.
A very clever lady!

Hello, Malone,
I think a lot of the appeal of the Waltons was the fact that we watched them all grow up together on the show.
The actress who played Elisabeth was only six when she joined the show, and was nineteen when it ended.
Just like an extended family!

Did you see the family growing up in Outnumbered? By the time it finished, Ben, the middle child, was enormous!
In one of the last episodes he had been cast in the school play:
"I'm Spartacus" he announced
"No, I'm Spartacus" from father.
"I'm Spartacus" from the oldest child in the front room....

Thanks, Rusty. Yes, that was probably one of the reasons for the popularity of 'The Waltons' - but I also liked it because it was so, so different from the life I was living!

I thought today's obituary, for Joyce Cansfield, was lovely. She sounded a really interesting person.

ChrisE,

I have heard 'I am Spartacus' many times, but it's a cultural reference that has completely passed me by!

Hi, Rusty!
I am just back from a very wet walk!
The rain did not stop midday, as was forecast, but has been steadily falling .......
Good to be out , though.
I was just checking whether Rose still did a regular column.
On one of the odd occasions we bought a paper on a Saturday, Rose wasn't there.....
Perhaps she was away on holiday.
I had heard of Joyce Cansfield..........but had you asked me who she was, I couldn't have said why I knew her name!
Maybe in connection with "Countdown"?
In days gone by, I used to watch that.
How did you get on with today's crossword ?
I thought it difficult?
I still have a number of clues left unsolved.



Hello, Chris!
I have never heard of the programme "Outnumbered"....
But I did of course get your "I'm Spartacus" reference!
And how about "I'm Brian...and so's my wife"!

Hello, Malone!
I agree, "The Waltons" was completely different from my life, too.
I think if they reran it, it would still be very popular.

Joyce Cansfield seemed to be a very nice person.
She was still Alpine skiing in her seventies!
It said for her first "Listener" puzzle, she set all her clues in verse!
Remarkable!

Hello, Elle!
Poor you with the weather.
it has been sunny all day here.
Rose was possibly on holiday, when you bought your paper.
There is a lad who stands in for her, I think, but his name escapes me.
I thought today's puzzle was fairly tricky.
14d, is a new word to me.
Joyce Cansfield, apart from her crossword and Scrabble skills, enjoyed Alpine skiing and boating on the Norfolk Broads.

Hi elle
"Outnumbered" is often repeated (on Dave for instance?). It's based around a family with three children, who start quite young. Much of their dialogue is improvised. It was often very, very funny!