Sir, - "At times, it was tense, at times, it was unconvincing . . ." - so begins your report on the Sheffield United-Newcastle United FA Cup semi-final, borrowed from the Guardian. I was tense and unconvinced myself by the end of the second sentence, by which time you were leading that newspaper 10-5 on the comma count.
Unfortunately, this is typical of The Irish Times's recent penchant for over-punctuation: an adverb and an adjective rarely appear together without a hyphen (hence Stuart Pearce makes a typically-robust tackle in The Irish Times and a typically robust tackle in the Guardian). When the word an adverb is modifying is not in doubt, there is no need for a hyphen. (Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the hyphen is not an ornament but an aid to being understood, and should be employed only when it is needed for that purpose.) - Yours, etc.,
Brendan O'Brien
Proofhouse, Broadford Lawn, Ballinteer,