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I've posted this journal entry at the start of the day to allow those that wish to to add their comments as soon as they've completed RTC. At the end of the day, I shall update it with a report on the day's play.

I shall studiously avoid reading any of your comments until I've competed myself, and I assume that other RTCers will do the same.

If you are locked out of RTC for some reason (e.g. the bird-on-the-box (404 Error) response because the login server has failed - again), you may be able to compete by using the back-door route http://www.timesonline.co.uk/displayPopup/0,,33015,00.html. Casual readers of this blog should note that unless they have a player name, they will appear as "null" (equivalent to the old "undefined").

Congratulations and commiserations: TBS

Fastest time: TBS
Slowest scoring time: TBS
Fastest non-scoring time: TBS
My time: TBS
First to finish: TBS
Number of entries: TBS

Nina: TBS (to be credited to whoever comes up with what seems to me to be the most likely explanation)

Music: TBS

Current Location: TBS
Current Mood: TBS
Current Music: TBS

My typing was bad again today, with TJE for 11ac (Definite article = THE) costing me a couple of points - or perhaps even more, since when I was marked "Incorrect" I initially assumed that 15ac (End up = PAN OUT), which I'd already spent several seconds on and put in hesitantly, was wrong. Generally I felt old and slow-witted so I was slightly surprised that I ended up (though not panned out) in the top 10.

Congratulations to hjseidman for leading the field today, and to the other four women who joined her in being the only solvers to break 2 minutes.

Fastest time: 1:29 (hjseidman)
Slowest scoring time: 2:13 (shanson)
Fastest non-scoring time: 2:15 (Jason)
My time: 2:07 (8th)
First to finish: jon88 (12:03 a.m.)
Number of entries: 61

Here are today's top 20.

1	hjseidman	1:29		11	Jason	2:15
2	Vicky	1:32		12	HenryBW	2:16
3	Jackie	1:42		13	Brendan	2:24
4	Barbara	1:51		14	JohnPMarshall	2:25
5	lickert	1:59		15	adamsanitt	2:29
6	Christopher	2:03		16	myles	2:31
7	zebby	2:05		17	vernonrichard	2:37
8	tonysever	2:07		18	neilr	3:01
9	Shaun	2:08		19	richardg	3:02
10	shanson	2:13		20	stephen	3:02

Nina: none identified

Music: another old favourite

Musical Footnote
BBC Radio 3 has been running a series called Poems for Today in which 41 contemporary poets read their verses on successive days. I particularly liked Wendy Cope's poem A Rehearsal, which you can find by following this link.

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Gershwin: Promenade (Walking the Dog)

Hurrah! A good day for the Dance Mafia (possibly one of the smaller RTC Mafias?), for whom 20dn (Leon -, Ballets Russe [sic!] designer/painter = BAKST) would have been an easy win (despite the grammatical blunder). But I dithered over 3dn (Older relative = GRANDDADDY), which I thought of first time through, but could still hardly bring myself to put in even when I had all the crossing letters in place.

Congratulations to Christopher for leading the field today in a very respectable time on a day when many of the big names struggled, taking him into an early lead in the monthly table.

Fastest time: 1:42 (Christopher)
Slowest scoring time: 4:32 (jon88)
Fastest non-scoring time: 4:45 (valerian1967)
My time: 2:18 (3rd)
First to finish: HenryBW (12:03 a.m.)
Number of entries: 46

Here are today's top 20.

1	Christopher	1:42		11	valerian1967	4:45
2	vernonrichard	1:58		12	lickert	4:56
3	tonysever	2:18		13	DianeRS	5:11
4	gormlessgracie	2:19		14	Shane	5:24
5	PeterFowler	2:59		15	richardg	5:24
6	HenryBW	3:19		16	MarkW	5:25
7	adamsanitt	4:08		17	mhspeedo	5:32
8	Jason	4:30		18	johnny47	5:39
9	neilr	4:31		19	stephen	6:03
10	jon88	4:32		20	Andy (aka andyw123)	6:04

Nina (credited to HenryBW, whom I quote): PKD in the diagonals, reading in from all four corners

Music: another great favourite of mine (by way of celebration :-)

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Brahms: Four Songs for Women's Chorus, Op. 17

Another hot and sticky evening, but today I ran a cold tap over my wrists for about half a minute before I started RTC, resulting in far better typing. I had no particular difficulties, and if only I hadn't dithered over 17dn (Lively Bohemian dance = POLKA), I'd have broken 2 minutes. And if I'd spotted the Nina, I might even have beaten richardg. (Doh!)

Congratulations to richardg for leading the field today, the only solver to break 2 minutes.

Fastest time: 1:55 (richardg)
Slowest scoring time: 3:03 (lickert)
Fastest non-scoring time: 3:36 (Chindit)
My time: 2:02 (2nd)
First to finish: jon88 (12:03 a.m.)
Number of entries: 39

Here are today's top 20.

1	richardg	1:55		11	Chindit	3:36
2	tonysever	2:02		12	Jason	3:44
3	Christopher	2:12		13	janetreed	4:15
4	adamsanitt	2:25		14	Edward	4:34
5	hjseidman	2:28		15	pilawski	4:40
6	jon88	2:34		16	duncanshiell	5:25
7	PeterFowler	2:47		17	bobanann	6:12
8	Shaun	2:50		18	valerian1967	6:17
9	mistigris	2:50		19	Andy (aka andyw123)	7:32
10	lickert	3:03		20	Chuck	8:08

Nina (credited to jon88): each across answer contains at least one M

Music: a hard choice from an excellent concert of Britten's music at this year's Aldeburgh Festival, but I particularly enjoyed this work, which I hadn't heard before, sung by Nicky Spence accompanied by Malcolm Martineau

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Britten: Who are these Children?

Here are the results for June, with May's positions shown in brackets:
1 [1] hjseidman (160 points, averaging 6.15 points per day)
2 [5] Jason (136)
3 [2=] richardg (112)
4 [7] vernonrichard (108)
5 [2=] MarkW (100)
6 [8] Vicky (95)
7 [6] aphis99 (92)
8 [4] neil23 (71)
9 [11] jon88 (68)
10 [-] Barbara (52)
11 [12] tonysever (50)
12 [13] lickert (44)
13 [9] Heyesey (41)
14 [10] shanson (39)
15 [15] PeterBiddlecombe (33)
16 [23] adamsanitt (28)
17 [17=] gormlessgracie (27)
18 [14] mistigris (22)
19 [20] zebby (19)
20 [17=] HenryBW (18)
21= [25] PeterFowler (14)
21= [-] Chindit (14)
23= [16] xyster (13)
23= [21] Shane (13)
23= [-] Brendan (13)
26= [28=] neilr (10)
26= [28=] oughamh (10)
28 [24] Christopher (8)
29 [33=] andyw123 (5)
30= [19] Jackie (4)
30= [-] Shaun (4)
32 [26=] Puzzleplease (3)
33 [-] James (2)
34= [-] Pieman (1)
34= [-] Wilberforce (1)

Congratulations to hjseidman for leading the field yet again by a substantial margin. Congratulations also to jon88 for regaining a place in the top 10 and to Barbara for gaining one for the first time.

As usual my version of the monthly table differs from the one the RTC computer would have produced. I've discounted the double points that the RTC computer chose to award to the six fastest solvers on 17 June, and I've reallocated Neil's points to neil23 and null's points to neil23 and MarkW.

Correspondents to my blog have identified 15 Ninas this month (I counted the splitting of the PKD title The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike over six days as a single Nina). As usual I've awarded a point for each Nina, splitting it where more than one person has contributed significantly. Congratulations to jon88 for regaining his title as champion Ninalogist this month, though valerian1967 is starting to show himself a dangerous rival. Here are the scores in full, with May's positions shown in brackets:
1 [2] jon88 (7½)
2 [-] valerian1967 (5½)
3= [3=] HenryBW (½)
3= [3=] xyster (½)
3= [7=] AlanJC (½)
3= [-] linxit (aka andyw123) (½)

The following solvers accumulated 10 or more points in my "first to finish" table (May's positions are shown in brackets). Congratulations to valerian1967 for taking 1st place this month with a record score.
1 [9] valerian1967 (201 points)
2 [2] jon88 (169)
3 [3] Patricia (127)
4 [1] AlanJC (125)
5 [4] Heyesey (110)
6 [6] HenryBW (105)
7 [7=] trishwain (102)
8 [7=] xyster (94)
9 [10] Jason (83)
10 [11] Janice (68)
11 [5] MarkW (65)
12 [14] andyw123 (40)
13 [13] Ilan (32)
14 [17=] Pieman (26)
15 [12] janetreed (23)
16 [-] Fatbellypig (14)

Once again the slate is wiped clean, and there's everything to play for in July.

Music: another work I've been waiting to list, in a fine recording by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C Major (Great)

Aaargh! Hotness and stickiness got to me today, and my fingers seemed to slither around the keyboard and constantly settle on the wrong letters. My use of the mouse wasn't too good either, as somehow I failed to land on the easy 1dn (US president from 1993 = CLINTON) and missed it altogether first time through, but otherwise I had no real difficulties apart from spending a few seconds at the end on 16ac (Ask earnestly (for) = PRAY) - so my 2:39 came as a surprise and a disappointment as I'd have guessed I'd taken around 2 minutes. Clearly my awful typing had taken a far greater toll than I'd thought, so that a place in the top 10 both today and for the month literally slipped through my fingers!

Congratulations: to hjseidman for leading the field today; to vernonrichard (a fraction of a second behind her) and MarkW for reaching 100 points for the month; and to Christopher for scoring his first points of the month and recording his first podium finish (under that name, at any rate).

Fastest time: 1:49 (hjseidman)
Slowest scoring time: 2:31 (Chindit)
Fastest non-scoring time: 2:39 (tonysever)
First to finish: valerian1967 (12:03 a.m.)
Number of entries: 58 (RECENT/FIRST) or 57 (FASTEST)

Here are today's top 20.

1	hjseidman	1:49		11	tonysever	2:39
2	vernonrichard	1:49		12	Heyesey	2:57
3	Christopher	2:01		13	mistigris	2:57
4	zebby	2:05		14	Barbara	3:10
5	richardg	2:12		15	duncanshiell	3:10
6	MarkW	2:14		16	lickert	3:10
7	Vicky	2:20		17	neilr	3:12
8	PeterBiddlecombe	2:24		18	Jason	3:15
9	HenryBW	2:28		19	Chuck	3:19
10	Chindit	2:31		20	Andy	3:19

Nina (credited jointly to xyster and valerian1967): the top and bottom rows yield a further element of this week's PKD title (In Milton Lumky Territory): CHIMNEY = LUM, COWES SOUND = COWS = KY, these elements combining to give SURNAME = LUMKY

Footnote
A despairing note from JohnPMarshall on the Times Crossword Club's Bulletin Board:

Just completed a rapid solution (for me) on RTC. My time is recorded as 8.53.13 (nearly 9 hours!) Blooming heck ! I'd only been up for 5 hours!!
Any explanations? I hadn't been in to the site since yesterday and my time was 2 minutes plus (the .13 might be right)

That makes Jason's recent problems seem trivial, and I'm blest if I've a rational explanation other than the inherent flakiness of the RTC code.

Music: a fine performance by Maurizio Pollini to cheer me up

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: deeply disappointed
Current Music: Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 53 (Waldstein)

I lost a point (and a place on the podium) today by rashly putting in DRONE for 2dn (Lazy person = IDLER), but otherwise things didn't go too badly. (Since Barbara failed even to make the top 20 and lickert failed to make the top 10, I'm praying for a similar result tomorrow!)

Congratulations: to hjseidman for returning after a couple of non-scoring days to lead the field today, reaching 150 points for the month and putting herself out of reach of Jason (to whom commiserations); to richardg, just a second behind, for reaching 100 points for the month; to PeterBiddlecombe, the only other solver to break 2 minutes, for his second podium finish in three days; and to Puzzleplease for scoring her first points of the month. (Since last Thursday, when PeterBiddlecombe, oughamh and I sadly all appeared on the second page of results, two of us have appeared in the top 10 on both Friday and Saturday, and today all three of us made it :-)

Fastest time: 1:33 (hjseidman)
Slowest scoring time: 2:22 (oughamh)
Fastest non-scoring time: 2:23 (zebby)
My time: 2:00 (4th)
First to finish: jon88 (12:02 a.m.)
Number of entries: 59 (RECENT/FIRST) or 58 (FASTEST)

Here are today's top 20.

1	hjseidman	1:33		11	zebby	2:23
2	richardg	1:34		12	myles	2:25
3	PeterBiddlecombe	1:57		13	shanson	2:28
4	tonysever	2:00		14	HenryBW	2:29
5	Heyesey	2:07		15	xyster	2:30
6	Jason	2:13		16	bobanann	2:33
7	Chindit	2:16		17	Terence	2:37
8	Puzzleplease	2:20		18	gormlessgracie	2:38
9	neilr	2:20		19	Brendan	2:40
10	oughamh	2:22		20	lickert	2:41

Nina (credited to jon88): presumably a reference to this week's PKD title (In Milton Lumky Territory is the next in sequence), we have PARADISE LOST in column 5 and anagrams SIDE PASTORAL in column 9 and SADIST PAROLE in row 7

Music: a delightful work which I sang back in 1969 as a member of the John Alldis Chorus - a short-lived amateur group (unlike the professional John Alldis Choir) which JA formed between his stints with the LSO Chorus and the London Philharmonic Choir - in a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall celebrating the centenary of Berlioz's death

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: content
Current Music: Berlioz: Sara la baigneuse

Here are the results for this week (with last week's positions shown in brackets):
1 [2] vernonrichard (46 points)
2 [4] hjseidman (33)
3 [1] Jason (32)
4 [10] richardg (29)
5 [8] jon88 (19)
6= [3] Vicky (18)
6= [21=] lickert (18)
8 [7] neil23 (13)
9 [-] HenryBW (12)
10= [5] MarkW (11)
10= [11] shanson (11)
12= [17=] PeterBiddlecombe (10)
12= [-] PeterFowler (10)
14= [9] gormlessgracie (9)
14= [12] Heyesey (9)
14= [-] Barbara (9)
17 [6] aphis99 (8)
18= [13=] xyster (6)
18= [-] neilr (6)
20= [13=] tonysever (5)
20= [19=] oughamh (5)
22 [16] adamsanitt (4)
23 [17=] mistigris (3)
24 [-] James (2)
25= [21=] Chindit (1)
25= [-] Pieman (1)

Congratulations to vernonrichard for leading the field this week, well ahead of both hjseidman and Jason..

First places: hjseidman (2), vernonrichard (2), Jason, MarkW

Unlucky 11th places: tonysever, David, Brendan, Shane, Jason, xyster

First to finish: jon88 (3), HenryBW (3)

Ninas (only 4 identified): valerian1967 (2½), jon88, linxit (aka andyw123) (½)

With a couple of days until the end of the month, hjseidman (140 points) and Jason (131) are battling it out for first place, while the last place in the top 10 will be decided among Barbara (52 points), lickert (44), tonysever (43), shanson (39) and Heyesey (35). In between (and already assured of their places in the top 10) are vernonrichard (99 points), richardg (97), MarkW (95), aphis99 (92), Vicky (91), neil23 (71) and jon88 (68).

Music: another old favourite

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Damn! Damn! Damn! Another senior moment with 16dn (Decorative shiny disc = SEQUIN) and more bad typing, particularly RRCHRISTEN for 5dn (Give a new name to = RECHRISTEN), cost me at least 6 points today. Not a good end to the week!

Congratulations to MarkW for leading the field today in a fast time.

Fastest time: 1:22 (MarkW)
Slowest scoring time: 2:11 (tonysever)
Fastest non-scoring time: 2:14 (xyster)
First to finish: jon88 (12:02 a.m.)
Number of entries: 49 (RECENT/FIRST) or 48 (FASTEST)

Here are today's top 20.

1	MarkW	1:22		11	xyster	2:14
2	vernonrichard	1:43		12	jon88	2:21
3	richardg	1:45		13	Pieman	2:23
4	neil23	1:49		14	hjseidman	2:28
5	Jason	1:50		15	Chindit	2:50
6	oughamh	2:06		16	valerian1967	2:58
7	adamsanitt	2:06		17	lickert	3:11
8	shanson	2:07		18	pilawski	3:26
9	HenryBW	2:10		19	trishwain	3:27
10	tonysever	2:11		20	Chuck	3:27

Nina (credited jointly to jon88 and valerian): jon88 notes the word chain from GOLF to FLOG through the 4-letter acrosses and downs in order (GOLF, GOLD, GOAD, GLAD, CLAD, CLOD, CLOG, FLOG), while valerian1967 notes the continuing influence of this week's PKD title with the word chain represented by PUTTERing and "about", and the "small land" being LILLIPUT (this seems almost to be stretching things too far, but I feel it can't just be coincidence)

Music: another old favourite to cheer me up

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: gloomy
Current Music: Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33

Oh dear! Another awful day, with a good 10 seconds lost to appalling typing. 4dn (Sliding resistance = FRICTION) was my other bugbear, since "sliding" and "resistance" conjured up such a strong mental image of a RHEOSTAT that I couldn't work out what the clue was driving at if it wasn't that. Eventually I had enough crossing letters to make the answer obvious, at which point (and in the absence of a cat) I could only kick myself for my obtuseness.

Congratulations to vernonrichard for leading the field today, with Heyesey (returned from his hols) not far behind, and PeterBiddlecombe recording his first podium finish for a while.

Fastest time: 1:27 (vernonrichard)
Slowest scoring time: 1:55 (tonysever)
Fastest non-scoring time: 2:00 (Jason)
First to finish: HenryBW (12:02 a.m.)
Number of entries: 47 (RECENT/FIRST) or 46 (FASTEST)

Here are today's top 20.

1	vernonrichard	1:27		11	Jason	2:00
2	Heyesey	1:29		12	neilr	2:07
3	PeterBiddlecombe	1:36		13	JohnPMarshall	2:14
4	lickert	1:39		14	oughamh	2:14
5	neil23	1:43		15	DianeRS	2:17
6	HenryBW	1:47		16	MarkW	2:23
7	jon88	1:48		17	Chindit	2:31
8	gormlessgracie	1:50		18	andyw123	2:42
9	shanson	1:55		19	valerian1967	2:46
10	tonysever	1:55		20	Vicky	2:47

Nina: none identified

Music: an old favourite to cheer me up

Current Location: Ealing
Current Mood: okay
Current Music: Milhaud: La création du monde