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Good afternoon, Rusty!
I am glad that you and the girls had a nice time!
And did you learn any more about their holiday in New York?
Any photos to look at?
I was reading on "Mumsnet" - my elder daughter uses it, and sometimes writes for it - that old-fashioned names - as used by "mum" or "granny" - are becoming very popular?
I am sure that modern "mums" will draw the line though at some "oldies"....... some names are probably best never mentioned again!
Although I do like mine......
Several of our family have names of Scottish origin, like mine.
My cousin Kenneth - the one from Kirkintilloch - has an anglicised version of Coinneach - have I spelled that correctly?
I have no idea how one would say that?
I have finished the crossword.
My favourites were 5d and 9a!
There is only one that I cannot parse.....27a?.....although I have the definition .



Hello, Jigjag!
I am sorry , I missed seeing your post earlier.
I am afraid that I would get nowhere at all in my crosswords, without access to reference books - dictionaries, atlases.... and of course , nowadays, the Internet
I do need to do a lot of research!
But to me , that is part of the fun!!

Hello Elle and Rusty

I have not seen the Monopoly clue - what is it? I usually think Monopoly, Totopoly and Cluedo clues are fair because I played them so much as child, as all my friends did.

I agree with Rusty about the Tube though - there are about 300 stations. I have visited nearly all of them as a student in London, but you cant be expected to know them or buy diaries to get a map. He would not allow a clue about, say, the Merseyside Underground e.g.

Modern well-lit working seaside station (3,8)

Hello, Elle!
27, "Some rowing" could be an "eight",
"agreement" is "yes",
"King" is "R".
Giving "E yes R ight" for "order to forces".
The girls loved New York!
The food was excellent and they loved all the sights.
I forgot to ask to see their photos!
"Coinneach" is correct, well done!
It means "handsome".
The translation is "Kenneth".
The "names" was a real laugh!
They dismissed most of my suggestions!
"No, Granddad, that's a "Mum" name", or "no way, that's a "Granny" name!"
It was very educational!

Jigjag

New Brighton?

I grew up in Birkenhead (not fit for a pig to live in!) and went to school in Liverpool on the underground or ferry.

Are you familiar with the expression "I'll gerroff at Edge Hill" ? ;-))

Hello, Jigjag!
I'll try New Brighton?
I have not heard of it if it exists!
I have made my points to Mr Rogan about all the London/Cockney references in his puzzles.
But I do not think he agrees!
Fair enough!
12, Way for London to lose its attraction and shopping centre (4,4)

Hi, Rusty!
Ah, thank you !
I had got as far as "eyes right" = order to forces" (def)
r - king
But no further!
Well done on that parsing!
I had meant to tell you ...just in case you did not already know - that the street name "Pall Mall" was derived from a French game......paille maille.....played there when the area was once green fields!
The game is now more commonly known as Croquet!
Yes, you are correct with "New Brighton"!
Well done!
I was about to offer it up..... but you and Ros both beat me to it!
(I knew Ros would know it!)

We had the occasional "school treat"; a day trip on the ferry to New Brighton (the ferry no longer goes there), complete with sand in the sanwiches, dropped ice cream and bathing cozzies. It was, of course, always freezing cold.

Hello, Elle!
Now, I was wondering...
I have heard of, and seen on television, The Mall.
Is that a different street to Pall Mall?
I suspect so, but am not in any way confident about it.
So croquet was "Paille Maille"!
Yes, I see "pall mall" in Chambers with that description!
The more I reflect on it, I am fairly sure I have heard of New Brighton before, and would link it with Merseyside.
I am going on YouTube now to see if I can find a horse race in Australia yesterday.
It featured the great race mare Winx.
She has just won her 29th consecutive top class race.
And Trotty and co won gold in the pursuit, in the World Cup in Canada, yesterday.

Hi Rusty
The Mall and Pall Mall are different, though not far apart. Also near them is Birdcage Walk - I've often wondered what the derivation of that was!

OK, I've been motivated to Google:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdcage_Walk