I’m thrilled many of you had a go at writing a few clues and experienced just a taste of what I go through for about 30 clues every crossword. I intentionally picked “good” words to clue, with a mix of vowels and consonants, multiple definitions and fairly obvious wordplay paths. Next time I might add a harder one.
I’m just back from 10 days away celebrating 30 years married to Linda. I’ve been planning this trip for 6 months, but not everything turned out well. There was five days in Mollymook, south coast, NSW, with four friends who attended our wedding. Somehow, I contracted the flu before the start of the holiday and managed to infect the rest. Two friends went home, and the other two travelled with us to Stroudover Cottage in Bemboka, southern NSW, to attend a live-in cooking course, tailor-made to our requirements. Day one was exhausting as I was really ill and the others gradually got worse. At the start of day two, I contacted the chef and cancelled what was remaining AND a cheese-making course that we had tagged on to the end of the cooking course. Graciously, the chef offered us extra accommodation and the chance to recover and complete both courses, which we did eventually, but with great effort and without the enjoyment that such an experience should involve. Saddest of all, the flu zapped our appetites – the last thing we wanted! We had planned to visit friends in Merimbula, far south coast NSW, but that leg had to be cancelled completely.
We left Stroudover Cottage on the improve but the chef and his wife were suffering quite badly from the flu. A memorable trip, and one that didn’t allow me to be as actively involved with all the clueing efforts as I would have wanted. Still not 100% but back on deck, I’ll endeavour to go through the submitted clues and report back (maybe next week).
If you like cooking, I can’t recommend chef Patrick and Stroudover Cottage highly enough. He created a plan specifically for our needs and at a very reasonable price. Please check it out.
Best
David
The Stickler
Not a good way to spend a much anticipated holiday to celebrate a lasting relationship. It is bad enough with just one person suffering the flu, but your group really excelled. I hope you will take time to fully recuperate and look forward to reading your further comments.
I enjoy cooking, particularly with new recipes, but not enough to spend my holidays in that way. Could be that both my daughters in law are chefs, so I am no competition.
Really sorry to hear that David. I hope you are feeling better very soon.