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I give up. Feeling thick today. How does the answer to 23A "Quality of diamonds" (5) become "Water" as that appears to be the only word that will fit there (w_t_r). Can anyone supply me with an explanation?

Not entirely sure, but "of the first water" is a phrase applied to the best diamonds. Something to do with clarity, perhaps?

Yes - see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_water

Could be diamonds are known as ice and frozen water is ice!! Sorry I'm not very good at explaining things.

Go Chris.

Thanks for your replies and the link you sent - I couldn't find such answers from an unsophisticated Google search.