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Good night/morning friends.
I'm posting this early (or late! Depends how you look at it) because I must go to a meeting in the morning and will not have time to post. Hope to be back by 5 tomorrow (Tues).

I'm taking a Christmas break now but hope to return early in the New Year. May I wish all my friends a VERY happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Thanks for all the fun we've had throughout 2013.

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 Tuesday (GMT) to allow others to have a go.

1. The public art galleries and, I bet, large picture halls are something else? (8,2,4,5)

2. Trivial trim leads doggie to trophy at last (8)

3. Shopping centres keeping alien beetles (7)

4. Do in, push in, dig in (7)

5. Get to the bottom of sound (6)

Bonus clue for Christmas.

6. Make way roughly starting with one? (11)

Hi, Jolan!
I got 2,3,5 & possibly 6 quickly; will leave the other two for tomorrow, methinks (it's long past my bedtime here).

Crikey GK! That was quick. What a solver!
Off to my virtuous couch now. See you tomorrow. J

Hi jolan,
this is a very pleasant surprise for an insomniac like myself as I'm also going to be busy tomorrow and wouldn't have had a chance otherwise. I only see #3 on reading so thinking cap now on.
In case I don't get another opportunity, I hope you enjoy the holiday period and I look forward to locking horns in 2014.

Have a very good break, jolan, and thanks for all the entertainment over the past year.

From today's, I think I may have #5 at first read through.

Think I've got # 4 now: if so, it's ingenious!
And now to crack the mysterious # 1 !!

I see #3 now ( though I assume that jolan uses Chambers rather than Wikipedia - the def. is given in Chambers, but Wiki specifically says that the def. is not exactly right!)

Good morning Jolan. A very early post so I've picked it up before I go out for golf (hope the weather holds). I'll take a look in later and see if I can solve any. In the meantime enjoy your break and have a great festive season but don't eat too much.

Only have #4 so far, ingenious

Re #3, as it's not the answer, I have just seen that New York is being overun with very large cockroaches!

Thank you for all your efforts over the year, Jolan, and I hope you and Helen have a good Christmas. I am a fully paid-up member of the Bah Humbug Club, but there are some good things....

Currently making a costume for my grandson's preschool play. Is he Joseph? The Innkeeper? No, a Christmas Tree (I should think rather more mobile than the real thing)! Better than someone I heard about, who is to represent a hailstone.

xR

Hi Jolan,

Thank you for all your efforts during the year. Once again I do not expect to be around at 5pm.
However, I've got #5 so far and will look in again later.