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Thanks guys
It all makes sense now. I new to this need a new way of thinking-

Gilfach- one of the things I do is I have a small book, indexed as for phone numbers. When someone gives an answer that has an element I haven't met before, I add it to the book. I'm thinking of, for example "judge" in a clue can mean the letters "REF", "flower" frequently means a river, "sailor" can mean AB or tar or RN.

Keep at it, very good for the brain!

If this is representative of the clues in the crossword, it may not be a suitable puzzle for a beginner. It's expecting a mental leap from the solver to turn 'in Texas, say?' into 'in S US', hopping over the intermediate form 'in Southern America'.

'Rank junk in South America' would have been a much fairer clue in a cryptic puzzle intended for less experienced solvers.