Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

I was puzzled by 7d. also, as 'high rank' seems to be needed for the first clue wordplay (as in Chambers), and 'get' is redundant.

That makes sense, mattrom- guess the definition for 7d is just what goes in the blank then at the end

I'm with Mattrom - the rank seems very much needed for the other half.

I don't have chambers in front of me, but could it be a word for "top" that gets lopped in 7d LHS?

I think louweed is right with “get” being juxtaposition indicator.

I agree, I think that's right. The thesaurus listing for top does give the relevant word, although it seems a bit of a stretch to me.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Re Alpaca's comment regarding 'get' in 7d, 'get' cannot be a juxtaposition indicator because the clues are supposed to be separate, though presented as one. It's also the first clue once the pairs are ordered according to entry in the grid, so starting with a juxtaposition indicator is nonsensical.

The only way I can justify it is to regard it as an instruction to the solver to do what follows.

Out of interest, and re foinaven@41, not only is 26(RHS) not in the original OED or supplement, I note that it’s not in the ‘new edition’ (1994) either, which I have in a similarly micro-reduced single volume (9 pages to a page!). It is in the online OED, so is evidently a very recent addition. In the OED it is shown hyphenated, justifying the single word answer by Listener rules, and it is marked ‘Scottish’, justifying the mention of the relevant island in the clue. As others have noted, the word does appear in other dictionaries including M-W, sometimes hyphenated and sometimes not.

PS I did thoroughly enjoy this week’s puzzle — many thanks Avian. I found it rather tricky, as I often rely on checked letters to help me get to answers, so the split clues and wandering letters left me a bit at sea, but I made steady progress and persevered, and when I got to the endgame the PDM was truly delightful, and the final pieces ingenious!

If I’m being picky, a few of the clues feel a little awkward. There are decidedly fuzzy definition matches in 12(LHS) and 14(RHS) I think, and in 19(LHS) the name of one ancient letter appears to clue another ancient letter — one with obvious similarities, but nevertheless a separate letter and I don’t think it’s quite enough to clue one with the other. Minor points, though, on the whole, and, hey, I got there (I think!).

PS I did thoroughly enjoy this week’s puzzle — many thanks Avian. I found it rather tricky, as I often rely on checked letters to help me get to answers, so the split clues and wandering letters left me a bit at sea, but I made steady progress and persevered, and when I got to the endgame the PDM was truly delightful, and the final pieces ingenious!

If I’m being picky, a few of the clues feel a little awkward. There are decidedly fuzzy definition matches in 12(LHS) and 14(RHS) I think, and in 19(LHS) the name of one ancient letter appears to clue another ancient letter — one with obvious similarities, but nevertheless a separate letter and I don’t think it’s quite enough to clue one with the other. Minor points, though, on the whole, and, hey, I got there (I think!).