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Hi friends. I'm stuck of a few explanations (and am sure to feel suitable chagrined when the obvious is pointed out. I'm "fairly" sure of my letters but who knows? Here goes:-

1. Crown servant seen in bar a couple of times (5,3) ?L?C? R?D. Must be Black Rod, but why? rod = bar?

2. Conductor - one for mass in church, perhaps?(5) P?L?T. Has to be pilot. Why?

3. One may carry a drop when greeting in Scotland (4,4) T?A? D?C?. I reckon tear duct, but cannot fig it out.

Help!

Conductor - one for mass in church, perhaps
piloti is architectural term for buttresses for holding mass (ie weight)in structures such as churches

"Greeting" in Scotland is crying

Hi, Jolan,

Not sure of the first two, but in Scotland, to greet means to weep. The wean's greetin', quite simply means the child is weeping.

Hope that helps.

P

Hi Jolan
'Greeting' in Scotland can mean crying, hence tear duct.

Could a second meaning of "black" mean to bar as from a club? So bar a couple of times would be "Black" and "Rod"

Oh Brilliant!
TEAR DUCT. Ta AB, Pipesmoker and SuzieM. No doubt about it.

AB. Looks like PILOT(I) indeed. Bit obscure, eh?

And AB! Wonderful!!! black = bar = rod.

I forgive myself for PILOT and TEAR DUCT, but certainly not for BLACK ROD.

Many thanks to all of you. I'm sure there are a few more posts awaiting when I psot this.

I saw PILOT and immediately thought of pi.

PI = religious LOT = mass (of people), so conductor of religious lot in church.

Ooooh Sammy!
Thanks a million. How simple and how obvious. How did we miss it? I think I'll fall on my sword. Very well spotted.

Don't want to set up a huge thread but the clue was "Conductor - one for mass in church, perhaps" The pilot, "conductor", + one "I" gives piloti (fans of Private Eye will recognise this is their architectural correspondent's name, so not so obscure). The mass and church are distractors, thus the "perhaps", but are essential to Sammy's explanation. Either way, we are all agreed that the answer is Pilot.