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Hello there,
in your corner of the world, would one use the term ashcan or ashbin to describe the household device which contains hot leavings from the fireplace?

Many thanks,

Aux one

Hello, aux one. It's usually called an ash bucket. Ashcan (though I think it's fair to say that this term is falling out of use) generally means trash receptacle- a larger bin put out for collection. There was a group of early-twentieth-century painters called the Ashcan School, known (not surprisingly) for blunt realism.
If, in your novel, your hero is asking his American wife if she took out the ashbin, make sure she doesn't say something like "Oh! I should have done." I've often noticed this "mistake" in Brit novelists' rendering of American speech. The response to our British hero would always be simply "I should have."
Time to shovel out my woodstove!

Thank you very much.

The clue in question reads 2d. Refuse to be left here in America. (6)
I have a*h**n. Chambers makes no distinction between ashcan and ashbin, so I thought, I need to ask an American, and who better than a cruciverbalising American!

Chur,

Aux One.

The problem is that we cruciverbalize with a zee. :)

A travesty.

In Canada we do it with a Zed.

I know. That's why I spelled it out- to emphasiz(!)e the horror.

I guess it's all in the pronunciation, though that must be a very subtle difference.

I wonder if anyone knows how the change in spelling came about.