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Jigjag,

The Private Eye crossword can be quite entertaining - as well as the occasional rudeness, I like the irreverence! It's a fortnightly publication, I probably would tire of it if I tackled it every week.

Today's Times Cryptic had another - yet another - of my eyebrow-raising clues...

Action English novelist mentioned (3)

...and yes, I know it probably works perfectly well for much of England, but it completely fails for me!

I agree, malone - I pronounce my Rs - but it at least makes sense of this quote:
Jaw, jaw is better than war, war
Often attributed to Churchill but actually said, in this form, by Harold Macmillan (Churchill had previously said something a bit similar).

Thanks, ChrisE.

I've never liked that quote very much - probably because 'jaw, jaw', talk, seems so, so dated now!

it was the 50s when he said it!

ChrisE, yes I know - but people have quoted it for decades afterwards, whereas I feel it should have disappeared along with antimacassars, blancmange, Liberty bodices.... It's not a quote that resonates very well now, whereas the best quotes are timeless ('One small step...', for example.)

Armstrong fluffed that one, malone - it should have been "one small step for a man". (He insists that's what he did say, but I don't believe him.)

I preferred the quote from the commander of the second landing - "that might have been a small step for Neil, but it wasn 't for me!"

I picked a poor quote, ChrisE- the error in that is as famous as the event! If I'd thought a bit longer, harder, I might have come up with "They think it's all over..."
I liked your follow-up quote,I'd never seen that one before.

Malone

Congratulations on making the 2,000th posting. "One small step for a woman, one giant leap for Pedants". I expect this to be quoted many years from now!

Jigjag

Thanks very much. I hadn't been paying attention to the numbers, and now think I should have had a properly pedantic offering for the 2000th. I look forward to your quote appearing in ODQ and then perhaps in a thematic puzzle... wouldn't that be a joy?!

Malone

Congratulations from me too.Who would have thought that would be so many when a few of you started it.

Nice to see 2 -ess words in Times today, one clue, one answer. The war/ Waugh works for me.

Jig jag

A very memorable quotation I am sure.