Well, it seems I've gotten poor peterm into hot water over what I thought (and still think) was a careful clue. If I were using "shambolic" in a crossword for, say, Atlantic Monthly readers it wouldn't be playing fair not to suggest that it's a peculiarly British word, just as it's hardly superfluous to hint in a British puzzle that a word is Scottish or American. Anyway, I would be happy to bow out and let a democratic model be adopted, as Francis seems to advise, or simply let peterm have another go. Just in case the status quo is preserved, I should point out that computer projections indicate that we're in line for a direct hit from Irene. The last bad hurricane here was Gloria in '85, and that brought down many magnificent native oaks on our land (Quercus alba and Q. rubra- for fellow tree-worshippers) along with power and phone lines. This one's expected to arrive on Sunday night, so if I don't post on Tuesday it's because we're offline.