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Hello, Elle!
No Barney here, but it is only 5C. Not very warm.
I heard Alex Thomson on C4 News say the first word the Syrian refugees on Bute will have to learn is "dreich"!
I think your wind will drop soon, according to Met Office.
Maybe you should get your tree lopped off a bit?
Hope you get on fine at school tomorrow.
I thought the crossword was a good one today.
1 down is a new word to me, though. Not good at heraldic terms.
And I do not have a Scooby on parsing 16 down!
I hope there are plenty of hot water bottles on Bute, tonight.

Rusty, the answer to 16 Down is simply hidden in the clue...

Devastate a fort, wounding a number inside (3,3,3)

DevastaTE A FOR T WO, a number/song is inside.

Malone, thank you for that!
I spotted "tea for two" and thought "two" was the number, not realising that "tea for two" was a number/song.
And why do we call a song, a "number", I wonder?
Anyway, thanks for putting me on the right road!

You're welcome, Rusty. I thought 'number = song' was a fairly newish (20th century maybe) thing, but according to Chambers, a number can be ' a self-contained portion of an opera or other composition'. I like learning new things, even just little nuggets such as this!

Me too, Malone. I should imagine only crossword addicts (and perhaps dictionary lovers) know that "neat" can refer to cattle of the genus Bos There must be lots of other examples

Me three, folks.
I have a head full of daft wee things.
One bugbear I have, with reference to songs/numbers, is singers being called "artists".
An artist to me is a painter, but I am sure it can mean other things, too.
There are two words that convinced me, many years ago, that I needed a good dictionary, were "ounce" for a snow leopard, and "priest" for a club for banging salmon on the head!

Heard of that use for "priest" but never "ounce" ! Learn something every day. Wasn't "artists" with that meaning originally "artistes"?

Probably, Rosalind.
And what about "boy band"?
Bands in musical terms, to me, played instruments.
These young lads only sing.
Or, am I being picky?

perhaps just a little picky? ;-))

OK, i tend to agree, Rosalind!