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Sorry, forgot to say thanks to all for help...til next time.

pen and ink is cockney rhyming slang - agree with everyones reservations thus far - guessing 4d is with the "o" not "a" but hard to be confident - don't fully understand 18d - wanted to find a word that indicated the "O" in Orwell but can't find one - and 10a could be "a" or "e" - still - no hurry - I see my guess at Valarie was wrong last one(still think it made more sense though)

Hello Ixion - Pen and ink - stink - I didn't know that. The O I just assumed was because it was the first letter of his name. A most unsatisfying crossword, all in all - far too many ambiguities. 4d I did put an o but felt it should have been a.
I think I feel strongly enough to write to the Crossword Editor. Maybe ...

Hi AJT - going to sleep on it and recheck tomorrow - had hoped the two derived words would make some sense together - but mine don't (elastic despair!)

Still awake! - 18d is "to(u(r)ist)y" I think

Orwell's trap?

Hi All

Couple of thoughts:

RE 9ac. Clue could read:
"Determined to go after Orwell's TOP pen and ink."
TOP coming from POT in 16d, where 'tripe in melting' is enough to indicate an anagram so POT is redundant.

RE 10ac. I reckon the quotation marks around TIME are significant so perhaps - "Time" said Dicky - is a more 'natural' surface reading than - "Time" Dicky said -. This makes, for me, 'Dicky' the definition and 'Time said' a homophone; so I'm going for 'A' rather than 'E'!

Cheers!!

hi all - glad to see I'm not the only worrier.
The Scottish isles are "uists" miniature circles are "tots' (I think). 20a is a problem, as is 19d ????

Just started so I don't want to read the whole blog to check this and spoil my fun, but is 5D "DOTHEBOY" perchance?

Good morning Dizoz - I think Ixion is right with "touristy" - toy(miniature) circles i.e. goes round, r in Scottish islands.
20ac is the name of an artist - french, china as in china plate - mate - that should give it to you.
19d is one of the two final words as per the preamble.