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Good afternoon, Rusty!
I am glad that you had a good time with Miss L-B!
Well done on your new Collins!
You are fortunate to get one in such excellent condition....and so early , too.
Yes, I hope mine is as good as yours...... I was told Tuesday for its arrival?
I have only one crossword clue left for which I do not have an answer.......but three that I cannot yet parse.
However.....I have not yet thrown in the towel!
I shall persevere for a while...off and on.
I especially liked 20a: urea; 18d: ectopic; and 6d:sirocco
"Odalisque" is a new word for me.
I am waiting for the plumber to put in an appearance.......he said either this afternoon, or tomorrow morning.
The sun is making a watery attempt to brighten up the afternoon!


Oh dear...I'm back to counting traffic lights!!!!

Hello, Elle!
I think your copy will be as good as mine.
World of Books had over 100 for sale, so I suspect they had been "remaindered" from somewhere.
They will all be in a like condition, I think.
And the Collins is heavier than the Chambers!
I had in my head that "odalisque" was a statue sort of thing!
I liked 23a, a good clue if you know what a Camel is/was.
I suspect many won't.
Let's hope your new plumber manages to get to you today.

Hi, Rusty!
So... a camel is not just a hump -backed beast?
No wonder I haven't been able to parse 23a!
I have "astray" = off track (def), as my answer
But cannot see why, please?
And I still cannot find an answer to 11a:
How come sci-fi writer's spoken of monster? (6)
?Y?E?N
No sign of the plumber......I guess he will not come now until tomorrow!

Hi elle
WYVERN
Why Verne?

Hello, Elle!
Yes, hopefully the plumber will come tomorrow.
Up here a lot of tradesmen knock off early on Fridays.
23a, Camel (notice the capital C) is the name of a brand of cigarettes. It's final resting place (hopefully) would be an "ashtray".
Remove "h/horse" for going off track.
The other one is (wyvern).
Wy, the setter thinks, sounds like "why"/how come.
Up here we pronounce the words differently, but that is a minor quibble.
And there was a lad called Verne who wrote books.
I have been browsing my new dictionary.
I like it!

Hi, Rusty!
I didn't think anything of the capital "C" as it was at the beginning of a sentence?
I have never heard of such a brand of cigarettes.....
I would never have got that in a month of Sundays!
I checked in Chambers and in Bradfords, but neither was any help!
Thank you for enlightening me!
And I didn't know "wyvern" either....
( I gather it's a sort of dragon)
I can see "why Verne", I guess , but I do pronounce the "h" slightly in words such as "why" and "where"......so do not really agree with "wy" sounding like "why"?
I'm glad you are enjoying browsing your new dictionary...
Now here's a test...…..
Is "Camels" in it?!


Thank you, Chris!
That is a new word for me...I have never come across it before.

Good evening, Elle!
There was a Sopwith Camel aeroplane, too.
Camel was an American brand of cigarette.
So, not so well known in UK.
I knew wyvern, and wy and why are pronounced differently for me, but perhaps not where the setter comes from.
Vauxhall made a car called a Wyvern, I remember.
And, strangely, their badge/logo is a "griffin".
Another ancient "creature".
There is speculation that Vauxhall misidentified the griffin for a wyvern when naming the car.
Camel fags are not in Collins.
The proper nouns are usually place names.
But "camel hair" is, and one of the definitions is "the hair of a squirrel's tail, used for paint brushes." Odd?

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, Chambers gives that definition, too, about camel hair being " the hair of a squirrel's tail, used for paint brushes", but also says that "camel hair" is "the 'hair of the camel' used for making a soft cloth"!
They sound like a contradiction in terms?
Very strange?
I have heard of camel-hair coats, though

Biggles flew a Sopwith Camel in the Great War (as did Snoopy!)
I think "camelhair" coats reflect their colour, rather than origin....

Hello, Elle!
It is quite mild here.
I know camel hair is used for making camel hair coats and jackets, because it is very soft fibre.
I read it is unsuitable for modern paint brushes, but camel hair was used long long ago in paintbrushes, before a Chinese lad created better brushes using different fibres.
I wonder if the name "camel hair" just carried on with the new fibre.