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I've since found, ginge, that Collins online dictionary has these phrases, but it really helps if you know what the first letter is. My O-level in French was quite some time ago and we were never taught these phrases!

Cheers orson, good to know for future reference. You now are aware of which 1 I had to seek help with.

Many thanks Malone and ginge. I'm full of admiration for both of you for managing to solve this effort of Doc.

Thanks, Farr. I don't count it as 'proper solving' - or indeed a 'proper crossword' - if the setter's idea of a theme is to pick four or five items from a list in Brewer's. I thought/hoped Doc had grown out of this!

Despite your reservations about 2452, malone - reservations which I share - you might be interested in this letter which appears in the current edition of the magazine:

A lot of crosswords
Sir: This week Tom Johnson (Doc) equals the number of standard thematic Spectator crosswords — 647 — which J.A. Caesar (Jac) compiled from 1971 to the mid-1980s. I should like to congratulate Tom on this great achievement and thank him and his team of setters for providing such wonderful entertainment, which is particularly appreciated in these dark days.
Rhidian Llewellyn
London SW19

Will37, thanks for that - interesting stuff. Yes, it's impressive that Doc has been setting Spectator crosswords for so long. My gripe is inspired by sheer disappointment. Doc gave us excellent puzzles for many, many years and I used to look forward to seeing his name. About 18 months or so ago, he had a long run of Brewer's-related puzzles and many of them were quite poor. One week we'd have unclued entries that followed 'Green', say, then a few weeks later we'd have unclued entries that followed 'First'. There was a fair bit of discussion on the Forum, with many solvers feeling let down.

This is my second attempt to send an appeal for help - the previous post seems to have gone astray.
I need help with 27/18 ad have HO? and IN? am I seriously
astray,? All others solved. Thanks in advance.

Truron, that was Hoping, optimistic. It's Pin, inside Hog. I can't remember the exact wording of the clue.

Thanks malone for directions to an apt answer that eluded me. Now to search for those French sayings which do not appear in my recent Brewer (and I threw away an older edítion).

Truron, glad I could help. My 19th edition had all the entries.