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Though it works for "big girl".

And for Doctors of Divinity of any shape.......

"Check out the new pastor. She looks like a double D."

Jeepers Creepers! Never entered my mind about the "word police" :))

Welcome also to ab (4/5) Thank you very much for the fine compliment. Means a lot coming from the experts of this site.

Sorry Ari that you're still having problems logging on. Very strange indeed.

Although ab listed the parsing almost exactly as I have, I'll include my working for the record.

1. subtractive anag (without & characters) of “he often sees” – “shoes” = EN FÊTE = dressed for a holiday (French) – Chambers def.

2.The twin daughters are sisters. sis and sis; then; sis + si(E)s = SISSIES. big girl’s blouse (inf) = sissy
(my original ‘two daughters’ might not have been sisters’. I suppose one might argue ..... Oh Shut Up Jolan! lol)

3. compass = span (Ox. Thes; span = compass; Chambers Thes; compass = span); craft = art; “bearing” yields sp(art)an = SPARTAN = simple. The hyphen is just a misleader.

4. “second = to encourage” and “hand = skill” are both Chambers Dict definitions; SECOND-HAND = used.

5. about = c; accumulate points = rack up; crack up = to praise (all Ch Dict defs), CRACK UP

Bless you all. See you next week. John.

PS The roads were dreadful tonight. Dark, rain, wind and 40 mph drivers. Coo! Off now to have a nice 12-year-old Glenmorangie single malt. Hic!

Well there's another one I've never heard- crack up for praise. We only use it for being highly amused. Must be another Britishism. Only three for me this week. Yikes. Nice ones though, Jolan. See you in speech court.

Actually, now that I think about it, we do use the expression "not what (or all) it's cracked up to be", but I think of that as meaning reputed rather than praised. I would never have made the connection.

Yes Ari. "to praise" is the first definition of 'crack up 'in Chambers though it doesn't have the same def in the COD.
I would not normally have linked crack up to praise.
Still, I tend to go with Chambers for crossword 'justification'. There are others who disagree.

Off to beddy-bye now. Early start in the morning. See you.

PS here is a cut-and-paste from my Chambers.

crack up. to praise; to fail suddenly, to go to pieces; to suffer a mental breakdown; to distress considerably; to (cause to) burst into laughter (inf) (crackup n).

well done ginge

Yes, Jolan. I wasn't disputing it, and I did look it up in Chambers. I was just saying that I've never heard it used that way over here. Ignorance is no excuse. Now I know.