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14D Bothersome steps in confined surroundings (9).
?E?T?L?N? Is it PESTILENT? If so, I don't get the confined surroundings.

Looks good to me. pe(stile)nt.

Sorry,meant to add confined as in pent up surrounding steps (stile).

Thanks Terry!

Hi Bees & Terry,

I had a problem with this one too! The answer is pestilent and Terry's construct is correct.

However, Chambers [God bless Chambers] shows 'penned' and 'pent' to be the past participle of 'pen' - the synonym for 'confine'.

Kind regards,

Caravaggio

Thanks Caravaggio.
Game, Set & Match to you then? No arguments!

The English Illustrated Dictionary 2nd Edition (1975)
Pent (adj). Closely confined, shut in or up.

In everyday language you rarely if ever hear the word pent used without the (technically unnecessary) addition of 'up'.

Talking of the redundant use of 'up', why do people insist on saying 'park up' rather than 'park'?

Or 'off of' for 'off'?

Or those TV chefs who now insist on 'frying off' when they used simply to 'fry'.

Sorry -- rant over. Time for my meds.

All that unnecessary rubbish is imported American pollution.
However the thing that really drives me mad is "begs the question". It does NOT mean "raises the question". I wish sloppy broadcasters, politicians and journalists etc would learn what the expression means before spouting it!

spouting it out.