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Hi, Rusty!
Our rain is here.
The forecast was spot on!
(Sorry, no pun intended!)
I can place Fred MacMurray - try Googling him, you can see a picture; I am sure you will recognise him - but couldn't conjure up Walter Brennan.
I had to look him up.
I, too, have done the crossword, except for .....
13a: Girl who's got people gunning for me? (4)
?Y?A
and 20d: Coat with a small amount of white spirit? (7)
P?L?T?T
I have no ideas?
Please can you help?
Also 4d: Expect answers when buttonholing head of intelligence (5)
I have "await" = "expect " (def)
which I have parsed as
A A - answers
wit - intelligence
But if this correct, where, please, does "head" come into it?
I am about to brave the rain to take the dog out....... but will be back in a bit........

hi elle
you might remember walter brennan as the chief baddie in support your local sheriff?
my ra
pale tot - a french overcoat
i wonder if the compiler meant head of intelligence to give the i? still don't see how the rest would work, though

just heard that chris froome crashed in the recon for tday's tt and possibly has a broken pelvis - out of the tdf, anyway

Hello, Elle!
Still dry here, but there are flood warnings further South in the Edinburgh area.
I looked up Fred MacMurray.
He looked like a Hollywood star!
I did not really recognise him, though.
13a, The girl is "My RA" (Royal Artillery are the Gunners).
20d is a new word for me, "pale tot", a "tot" is a "nip" of strong drink, and a "paletot" is an overcoat, apparently.
4d, I was at this one for quite a while!
I am not convinced by my parse, but here we go!
Two answers are "a" and "a", intelligence could possibly be "wit", but i can't fathom why "head" is there?
Unless being a "wit" means you have a "head of intelligence", but I doubt it?
That's as near as I can get, Elle!
Setter has beat me!
Hope you and the dog don't get wet!

They're now saying broken femur.

I don't even know which sport the injured man was doing, and I don't want to! But a broken pelvis could have put him out of most sports for good (unless just a process had been broken). A broken femur was once life threatening and is anyway serious, but he will recover. Maybe time to retire and take up something more interesting? (Tongue is in cheek, I know how most of you love sport)

re: await

Jackkt parses it elsewhere (copied and pasted) :

WIT (intelligence) with A A (answers) containing [buttonholing] its (wit's) first letter [head].

Hi, Rusty!
I am home again...and yes, somewhat poggy.
I am afraid that the rain did not let up!
But the dog and I are not put off by a bit of rain!
Thank you for your help with the elusive clues....I would never have got either of those.
Ah, we are agreed over 4d...both of us parsing it exactly the same!
But this "head" reference is a bit of a mystery?
But, on the whole, I thought it a nice puzzle.
I specially liked 21a: "Parr" and 28a: "craziest".
Did you have a favourite clue?




Hello, Chris!
Thank you for your help.
I, too, had considered "i" for "head of intelligence", but couldn't seen any further.... before deciding on "wit."



Thank you, Cerasus!
I don't know who "Jacckt" is? but I could not understand that explanation?

Hello, Elle!
Still a fine day here!
I hear there is a large part of London without water?
4d caused a bit of head scratching!
No harm in that, and we got there.
I think today's setter has done a fine job!
An enjoyable puzzle.
My favourites were, 7d, "see eye to eye", and "Wizard of Oz".

Good evening, Rusty!
I think the water crisis is due to a burst water pipe out Richmond way?
It is affecting the South and South- west of London, I believe?
100, 000 homes without water
What a to-do!
We fortunately live in the South -east, and so are unaffected, but it is a dreadful situation for all those suffering the consequences.
I think plans have been set in motion to get water to those in need.
And let's hope that the repairs are carried out successfully as soon as possible.
Ironically, it is still raining heavily!