Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

There’s an interesting post by Tramp @12 in today’s 225 blog regarding the background to last week’s prize puzzle.
Worth a read.

Hi Rocky,

26a - 1 letter "duck" followed by "flock" - definition is "back in the day"

25a - 4 letter "food" + 5 letter slang word for "wages" (I didn't know this meaning but it is in Chambers) - definition is "a small retainer" - others have said they had never heard of it which really surprises me.

25a Chambers has this as two words, so it would seem do all the sites where you might buy these

25a - You're right, Jono, I've only ever seen it written as two words. I should have said that in my post.

Thanks both. Off out now and still none the wiser but I shall return in a couple of hours.

I had mentioned that I thought 25 should be 4,5 in my post at 2 above, but perhaps it got buried in the post.

Hi Brendan, re 20D, I think the 'Was' is required. The verb 'relieve' is transitive and is reflexive for the sense used in the clue (see Chambers). the verb it's cluing is intransitive, so the 'was' is required to make it work grammatically.

A propos des bottes, so to speak, 4d was the subject of a very famous French historian's doctoral dissertation.

25: I'd only seen it as 2 words. My source (NSOED) has 4-5. I was just happy to write in the answer...for a long time I had a (plausible) wrong 1-word solution with the same first 5 letters but a different final 4.

I googled and saw one vendor link using the (9), but that's it.

An enjoyable but hard crossword. Stuck in the bottom right half. I would appreciate any hint for 27a. If anyone stuck on 8d think about the opening lyrics to a famous 70s song by am American artist