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Can anyone help please with 31d?
'Sourpuss to wreck winch' (4) ?R??
Dithering between 2 answers ....
Many thanks for any help!

Hi Anna,

According to Roget's Thesaurus, CRAB is a synonym for sourpuss; coincidentally, CRAB is also a portable winch [Chambers] and Encarta describes CRAB as 'a machine similar to a crane which is designed to move heavy weights'.

I hope that was one of your options!

Best wishes,

Caravaggio

And, as an afterthought, CRAB is also a verb. According to Chambers: "[of hawks] to claw; to decry, criticize [sic]; to obstruct, WRECK or frustrate".

That is a very clever clue and I am genuinely impressed!

Thanks Caravaggio, yes, my favourite was CRAB for all your reasons.
I'd just vaguely wondered about GRAB:
sourpuss to wreck/'smash and GRAB'/ party, grab=winch??
I've come a cropper recently with 'alternatives' in Mephisto: thill/thilk, abode/adobe, zainab/zaynab etc.
It's always those boxed-in letters that are the problem!
Thanks again, Anna