adamantine it is, Trevor. Hi to GK. A brave effort Chris. I'm also wondering about ab. His solving and parsing have been just great.. I see no. 5 is causing some problems. Methinks I'll leave it there until after my diet dinner. Ari might be aware of the definition. It's well covered in Chambers Thes and Dict. The definition is in the earlier part of the clue. See you later. J