Crossword roundup: goodbye to Orlando

Orlando, who has died aged 77, was as thoughtful as they come in every sense of that word.
Last winter, half-recalling an old piece by my predecessor, Hugh Stephenson, I asked Orlando for some quick crosswords. He obliged at speed with a superb batch. It was only later and after sending more puzzles that he gently mentioned that he had not been one of this paper’s quick setters for some years.
I was unsurprised: you can go back a long way in my inbox finding examples of Orlando’s kindness.
We can use his noncrosswording name – Michael Curl – indeed, it was thanks to Michael’s invaluable site Best for Puzzles that many of us first learned of the names and people behind the noms de guerre.
And of course there are the puzzles. Clues with compelling surface readings:
Funny clues:
Clues introducing quiptic solvers to the pleasures of staggeringly appropriate wordplay:
A clue which, in a puzzle that also celebrates boxer Nicola Adams, asks for a little knowledge about a laureate:
Playful clues:
And perfect clues:
We can be very glad that Michael took early retirement to focus on puzzles. I recommend our encounter in Meet the Setter and of course we have the archive.
The answers to the clues above are ALL AT ONCE, DRESSING, MARIE ANTOINETTE, TALL SHIPS, MINGLED and LA SCALA.