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Good afternoon! Sorry for being a bit late. Hope these few clues will entertain. Good solving! J

I set clues just for pleasure. I wonder if some of you excellent regulars would like to try a few? Since they're new, no letters!

Please withhold solutions till 5 pm (GMT + 1) to allow others to have a go.


1. Women taking present to what place? (5)

2. Ambassador can prepare this for a one-to-one oral examination (10,4)

3. Prepares the starting pistol and positions one to run (4,2,6)

4. Food for the first lady? (5,3)

5. Throws heartless parts of a meal into more than one sailor’s dish (10)

Afternoon jolan - hope you are both keeping well.

I saw #1 and possibly #4 at first look.

Dog-walking and gardening on the programme for this afternoon, but I'll try to look in again later.

Leading a dog's life Chris, eh? Enjopy the sun and the garden. Methinks I'll go outside and 'do a bit' also. J

Just getting to this, Jolan. I see 1, 4 (possibly), and 5 (no question about that one!), but am on the run and may not be able to post again.

Afternoon jolan, I trust you're well. I'm a bit busy today (decorating for a friend) so I've written them down for later when I can relax, as opposed to working,with a beer or two! Cheers.

Thanks jolan
Not much more progress I'm afraid. We seem to be a bit thin on the ground today - must be the good weather!

1. WHERE
W(oman) + HERE (present)

2. I tried to make this one "Headingly test", but failed!

4. APPLE PIE?
"First lady" being Eve; I'm note sure why "pie", though.

Look forward to seeing the answers.

Hi Jolan
Blimey there were a few toughies in this selection! Definitely at the harder end of a daily cryptic. Tough but fair I think- if I have got them right!
My suggestions are the following.
1. Women taking present to what place? (5) WHERE. W for women Here (present)- what place is defn.

2. Ambassador can prepare this for a one-to-one oral examination (10,4) CONSULTING ROOM. Consul (ambassador) Tin (can) Groom (prepare). One to one examination- defn

3. Prepares the starting pistol and positions one to run (4,2,6) PUTS IN CHARGE. As in loading a gun and putting a person in place to run an organisation.

4. Food for the first lady? (5,3) SPARE RIB. Eve was a ‘spare’ rib of Adam according to Genesis

5. Throws heartless parts of a meal into more than one sailor’s dish (10) LOBSCOUSES. Lobs (throws) Couses (courses missing middle S). Lobscouses are stews sailors used to eat.

Jeepers Creepers!!!

Not for the first time (recently) I keep getting "page(s) unresponsive" message. ON THIS SITE ONLY.

I'm rushing before it happens again.

Hi also to Ar9i, ginge and dlaw.

Well DJ, a clean sweep once again. Many thanks to all. I haven't included my working fro a while so I'll just do it now, for your interest

1. w = women (Chambers); present = here; WHERE? = to what place? (Chambers def)

2. ambassador = consul; can = tin; prepare = groom; CONSULTING ROOM = (this) for a one-to-one oral examination

3. (double) PUTS IN CHARGE

4. (cryptic) SPARE RIB

5. throws = lobs; heartless parts of a meal = cou(R)ses = couses; LOBSCOUSES = more than one sailor’s dish. lobscouse = a sea dish (Chambers def)

Bless you all

J

Not Ar9i but Ari (ha, ha!) Of course, DJ, your parsing was spot-on and there was no need for mine.

hi Jolan
I am sorry I was unable to post due to problems with iPad and no access to my laptop until just now.
Having seen the solutions, I would have been only able to offer just #1
Excellent clues as always. jg