Spmm

Putting a TV above a working fireplace gives you a terrible viewing angle, a sore neck and a piece of electronics exposed to dramatic heat variations and possibly smoke.

Now I understand why Americans can’t pronounce aluminium correctly - sniff

‘They shoot horses don’t they’ was such a good film, set in the depression era. Surprised people are still running them.

Bruce’s Philosopher’s Song popped into mind instantly (I drink therefore I am) one of Monty Python’s finest but would probably not pass the modern censors.

Well I enjoyed it! Mercifully few proper names and no baseball or big name ins product placements. Thanks.

The main clues were great - the fillers were nasty, RBG, BIALY, ALAI, BAIUL, SAWTEE, ALOU, LETO, CIAO, IMPEI, APPA, PESCI, TYRA, HAP?, TIG, EHUD, RHODA,DQED, ROLEO, PETCO, USMA, ARO, that is not all of them, SCREW was the first clue I entered thanks DEB :) Ah well tomorrow is another day.

I was excited - perhaps the ‘features of some stadia’ would at last be vomitoria - but it was not to be. Oh well, another day another puzzle to have a crack at.

Well SCROD was worth the price of admission, USHES not so much and SAFARI suit was funny. HUSKIES and TRAE for the sports challenged and its pronounced tea sack :)

Lovely puzzle but stumped on Oreo Pie - I ate half of an Oreo once in my teens. Could really taste the 25% sugar and not much else.

Actual words are much more fun to solve than idiomatic slang phrases and proper names of the obscure - I blame the apps crossword makers use for throwing up too much dross filler.

Excellent fun puzzle thanks

any elucidation on the relevance of ‘nova’ to smoked salmon? Or is it mere product placement?

So good to have so few proper names. Needed the assists from the column and comments- thanks Still managed to nearly shoot myself in the foot with theatre but very pleasant otherwise.

Acer a powerful server - not. Unless there is an attempted tennis reference here. So many non-words these days as well. Will try to enjoy tomorrow’s.

A main course is not by definition an Entree.

Well it didn’t have any baseball clues and I liked ‘plates for nuts’.

Decided it wasn’t worth my time or eyesight to linger over this on an iPad. Far too cutesie and littered with acronyms.

Steak Diane - flash back to the 70’s - Perec and Nora crossing was nasty as was Leona and Omni. Das Boot is brilliant IMHO :)

Dial Soap and A.L. batting titles completely threw me in the SW but I enjoyed the puzzle. Vive la France!

UNIX was in and out twice sigh. CROP is available in any photo editing app/program. CLONE I haven’t seen outside of Photoshop yet :)

I think I exhausted the ways to missspell Kamenski - imho Nadia and Simone are sporting names worth remembering. Loamy anyone?

Loved it, thanks. Answers popped out on the second trip around and no lookups.

Ahem a young male lover is a TOYBOY not a boy toy. Just sayin.

So tough. Pleased to guess TOPEKAN correctly. Malcolm Turnbull also won the legal case for Spycatcher in Australia allowing it to be published, much to the annoyance of MI5.

Yules to you too. Not a fan of this at all.

Well AFLAC crossing ATF, INRE and YEESH were dire having had no issues with light opera, mendacious and bosc. RUE and LIEU were pretty dodgy as well but I did enjoy most of it for a Wednesday.

HOE cake and WET martini- egad! For a truly strong flavour try Kendal Mint Cake, beloved of fell hikers.

Much more fun than yesterday fewer TLAs although IDEST crossed with PDA made no sense to me at all.

A new category ‘nonsense fill’ appears to join the US slang and other languages. English is of course a hard language to use well. I offer Woolloomooloo, Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, as possible options, a suburb of Sydney and the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory location respectively.

After extricating myself from the OIL well and looking up Knute it was very enjoyable - thanks

Very good once I relinquished Life of Brian, no idea who Reilly is/was…

Decided it wasn’t worth blinding myself trying to find rebuses on the iPad as two thirds of the screen is a huge image keypad even though I have a physical one. Any attempt to zoom usually ends in disaster…

Top of the hour on radio where the term originated I understand - is when the hour turns ie 6pm into 7pm, 7am into 8am etc, when you expect the news and weather to be aired. Not just midnight and noon as per the read about column. So 12 isn’t really the answer. Congratulations on your debut.

Chewy Tuesday and the tricky clues were the ones I already had. At least no ex presidents.

Sugary or twee? Easy one for the locals.

Ahem - Elevators do not have cars, or cabs, they are moving staircases. Lifts on the other hand… :) Great puzzle thanks.

I liked the ASP one rueful giggle. What are DELE and TPED when they are at home?

Increasingly parochial clues this week, brand names mostly differ by country although the profits of course go home via the double Dutch sandwich. Of course it makes it easier for the locals.

So sad to equate MTV with music, poor kids.

Vintage military chopper may have been a better clue for HUEY as they are no longer in use.

No intention of looking up or watching WWtBaM or anything to do with the Ks or rappers same for car trivia - call me a snob - life is too short and I don’t need that stuff in my search results