Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Only two I couldn't get were 18A & 39A.
Ironically the latter set the former, & just now got the wordplay for the latter.
Beautiful! Darn it, that was in a Speccie a year or two ago.

Now, 18A ???

A few favourites: 17A, 38A, 21D, though there were a number that took some work. My efforts seem rather paltry. Will have to work harder next time.

Still have several question marks for wordplay.

Les, you've put in a lot of work, & maybe it's too much to ask, but any chance you could also post the wordplay? Would really help duffers such as I.
Just pretend it's grant-lionheart-a-wish night. (-;

Please keep the original grid size. Easy on the eyes.

Lionheart,

23d: TINCTURE: (TIN = money, around = C, anag of TRUE = TURE. medicine = tincture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJDUkqk_RmE

I had a nasty hole thus:

21d
27a (yes me too!)
35a
39a (could kick myself there!)

I loved 28d and 17a.

Well done everyone, especially Les for all the fun over the past few days.

My husband of 40 years is still talking to me but I think has been worried by my silence and occasional cries of "EUREKA"!!

... and I loved 13a - very witty!

Wendy, thanks for the explanation re 23D. Had LINCTURE (Chambers) & "money" as LIRE. Never mind the rest.
Figured I had misinterpreted something.

Lionheartm re post 6, OS is sailor (In Chambers – Ordinary Seaman, Bradford under "sailor")

Whew! That’s it for another month. Great crossword of which I completed all but 4 clues. I was pleased I included Les as it fitted in well with the theme which I only became aware of later.

Favourite clues were

17a – not easy to see at first but once seen you knew it was right
36d – one of the 4 I didn’t get
48a – An old friend from Blackpool used to talk about pumps. Is it a northern thing?

Well done everybody and many thanks to Les.

For 17a, I was handicapped for ages by my sloppy writing which had me convinced that the E at the end was an F, and therefore that the last word must be OFF!
Pumps were what we all wore before there were trainers. They usually had to be white for school PE lessons, but black baseball boots (a cheap, early version of Converse Hi-Tops) were the thing to wear for out-of-school activities.
36d was my only failure, so hats off to ixion, and a tip of the titfer to Greedy Kite for his tricky long clues.

Wendy, thankyou! I couldn't get past 'around' being a container signifier...d'oh! Nicely done & cheers for the drink ;)

AB...of course! My brain was telling me that sailor could only be either ab or tar...thanks!

Glad to see 17a had people in knots :)