I've finished about 80 percent of it ... so far no google-cheating.

Seven letter word for oral gratification...hmmmm....

He's a serious puzzler. He was in that movie about crosswords and was impressively fast and clever at it.

Of course he's also just really really smart.

It's a Sunday one. . meaning, next to impossible for the likes of me. I can whiz through Monday, do Tuesday fairly quickly, and from then on it gets sloggier.

I would like to see Dubya's crossword clues:

Fill in the blank: "Mission ____________" (12 letters).
(Answer: "acompplished")

I'm impressed, Claudia_SF. I've been working on it (albeit desultorily) since Sunday, and I'm not even close to 20% done. Part of it though, is Will Shortz's comment at the beginning about how it involves more wordplay than the average puzzle. I find myself a little intimidated by this cautionary note, even though the answers, when I finally get them, aren't really that hard.

Plus, I know next to nothing about music, let alone the music he's talking about.

Claudia - what, no google-cheating?!

hm. that's the MOST fun thing about doing the sunday times with the dude... looking stuff up on the net... and invariably finding something sparkly which distracts us :]

seriously tho the sunday times is a freaking beast. even the dude has rough times with it and he's all ejumacated and stuff.

that puzzle was pretty tough - i was able to slog through it in a few hours, though.

Seven letter word for oral gratification...hmmmm....

Well, #4 down is a seven letter word with the clue: "It's nice to be on the receiving end of one".

hmmmm...