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Has to be the quickest Prize solce ever for me.
FOI 9, LOI 23. I liked 13. Not much to say really: pleasant and smooth enough, occasionally raised a smile, but over far too quickly.

Thanks to Philistine. Pleasant diversion, but so gentle as to be a bit disappointing in the Prize slot. Finished in near record time, slowed only slightly by tricky parsing of 20 and unaccountable hesitation on 7.

Several of the 4-letter solutions were extremely easy, and 4 in particular crossed over into "trite" territory (how many times has *that* chestnut been used?).

FOI 9, LOI 7.

COD tie between 10, 20 and 23. Impressed by 20, as I thought the clue was incorrect until the penny dropped re. a wordplay subtlety. 1d, 3, 8, 1a, 16 and 22 also elicited smiles.

Over too quickly. How was this selected as a Prize?

As sometimes happens with easy Prizes, I'm turning to the FT (Mudd tonight) for the Friday cruciverbial fix.

…whereas, having also done the Guardian Weekend and Quick Cryptic in short order (though the latter almost took as not long as the Prize), I’ve turned to the Independent to see me through to 1 a.m.

Agreed, Paul's Friday offering was more in the zone.

The Guardian blog recently provided an explanation in response to such queries:

'A solver who only has the time to tackle a puzzle at the weekend should not always have to deal with that week’s most beastly crossword. A Saturday puzzle might be tricky; it might also be witty, or timely or charming in some other way. But not always the week’s knottiest challenge.'

Today's puzzle was well-clued but not overly challenging, which was ok with me following yesterday's Paul.

Also recommend this week's 'Cracking the Cryptic' on YouTube - it's good 'training' to see someone struggle their way through a particularly thorny crossword (prob. Enigmatist).

Wooshed through that one in less time than it took to drink my mug of tea! No complaints here, as it made me feel smart for a few minutes ... which I most assuredly am not this morning after a couple too many beers last night.
Have a good weekend, all.

Woke up early, picked up the crossword thinking I'd do a few clues and maybe go back to sleep. 20 minutes later I'm done. Fair enough I guess as per Mogwai's quote from the blog at 7. But this felt like it was made deliberately over easy for some reason. I can't think why. That would have been an easy Everyman.

Always appreciate my Saturday crossword so thanks as always to Philistine. I shall move on to other things.

Agreed everyone, my quickest prize easily. 3 and 8 made me laugh.