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Hi again jolan,
The penny finally dropped with #1, beautiful, but you totally stumped me with #6. Many thanks again, 'til 2014, cheers.

Thanks for the clues Jolan, my word you were at your devious best this week. Well done GK and the Iron, you both seem to have got a full house.

I had mallets written down as an answer, as it fitted the wordplay so well, but mistakenly looked up "mallet" in Chambers instead of looking up "beetle" where I would have found:
"a heavy wooden mallet used for driving wedges, crushing or beating down paving-stones, or the like."
Sigh....

I had #4 SHINDIG
#5 FATHOM (although rumble works as well).

I also had MALLETS written down but did not realise the connection with beetles.


I was looking for a subtractive at #1 and could not understand why I was crossing all the letters out!

Thanks again Jolan. Have a great time during your well-deserved break.

Brilliant stuff you folk. Hi there Trevor (nice to see you here).

GK and Djaw (David?) have it well sussed out. FATHOM was my choice, but RUMBLE is just as valid.

As for the 'bonus' I like STEAMROLLER. My make way was meant to mean make a street; roughly = make a rough street, do this using "cobblestones" and start with one COBBLESTONE. I've just dealt with a long phone call so someone may have posted while I delayed. Here is my working

1. ANAGRAMS OF EACH OTHER “the public art galleries” and “i bet large picture halls”

2. trim = snip; doggie = (diminutive suggests) pet; trophy at last = y; SNIPPETY = trivial (Chambers def).

3. shopping centres = malls; alien = ET; mall(et)s = MALLETS = beetles (beetle = heavy wooden mallet: Chambers)

4. It’s “in” there! Do = party =SHINDIG

5. (double) get to the bottom of = FATHOM = sound.
RUMBLE would be quite acceptable.

6. (cryptic) COBBLESTONE

May I wish each and every one of you a VERY Happy Christmas (Helen, also, wishes the compliments of the season to you). Look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Thanks for the very kind wishes and comments. You are all 'stars'. John xx

I'd just like to apologize again for jumping the gun! And a Happy Christmas to all those I won't be seeing around somewhere else on CS before then!

Well done GK and djawhufc for solving all 6

Thanx, Jazzy, but still sorry I steam-rollered you!

GK I am sorry I maybe was taking things a bit too seriously. Enjoy Christmas x