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Hello, Elle!
Well done, your plumber!
That is very sensible putting him back on your "trusted tradesmen" list!
Hope you get a reasonable quote for your shower job.
Roger has won the Oz Open several times, as has Novak.
What do you make of your Collins?

Hi, Rusty!
Well, I only got my Collins mid morning yesterday, so have not had all that much time yet to "browse" through it.
But I very much like its clear format.
For instance , I looked up "land"...... the various meanings, and other words beginning with such, are set out much more clearly than they are in my Chambers.
Each word beginning a fresh line......
It is much easier to see different definitions and derivatives.
And I like its listing Proper Nouns.
I have checked several Proper Nouns in both dictionaries, but am only finding them in the Collins.
But I have only touched on the surface yet, only having owned the Collins dictionary for one day!
However, the Collins does not have "taghairm"!
Mind you , this word is not in my ill-fated 13th edition of Chambers, either (altho it is in your 12th!)
"Taghairm" is one of the listed "Missing words" from the 13th Chambers.....
The additional supplement later supplied gives it as "inspiration sought by lying in a bullock's hide behind a waterfall"
Just as we, of course, know it......
Now the Online Collins ( a newer version than our book ) has it , but simply gives it as "Scottish :
a form of divination once practised in the Highlands of Scotland "
No mention of "bullocks"...nor of "waterfall"!!!
But where would we be without a bullock hide...?

Hello, Elle!
No, no "taghairm" in my Collins either!
But, yes, it is in the on-line edition.
I much prefer Chambers version of "taghairm".
Chambers is known for its sometimes "quirky" definitions, as in "eclair, "middle-aged", and "jaywalker", for instance.
I like my Collins and it was good value, I think?
It would make a great doorstop, too. Quite heavy!
Puzzle is on the easy side today, I think.
I really liked 3d. Take a bow, setter!

Good evening, Rusty!
Yes, indeed, I think the Collins is great value, not only in content but also in cost.
I paid around £5 for a volume that originally cost £30.
I, too, found the crossword relatively straightforward today.
Yes, 3d: "siblings", is a wonderful clue!
I have answers for all the clues, so have completed the grid.
But there are three that I cannot fully parse?
27a: Vocalist's slangy greeting to famous countertenor (8)
Answer: "yodeller" = "vocalist" (def)
but why?
16d: They choose English readers in foreign universities (8)
Answer: "electors" = "they choose" (def)
19d: Stretch limo originally acceptable in key northern street (8)
"elongated" = "stretch" (def)
What am I not seeing here, please?

Hi elle
Alfred Deller was a famous countertenor, who could be greeted slangily "Yo Deller" (compare GW Bushs's "Yo Blair")
LECTORS are what some universities call "readers"
19 I think doesn't have the D on the end. GATE is the northern street, and the L comes from Limo, but I'm not seeing EON

....unless it's just E for key and ON for acceptable?

Hello, Elle!
"Siblings" is my "clue of the week"!
Now, I am struggling with the parse, but....
27, "Yo" is a greeting, I believe, a bit like "hi".
"Deller", I have no idea about, but maybe a singer?
16, again, I am stuck, But "E" for English, could "lectors" be "readers in foreign unis"? I do not know.
19, My stab is, "key" is "E", "limo" originally is "L", first letter, acceptable is "on", the "street", is "gate".
Why they have "northern", I do not know.
Not a great help, Elle, I am afraid.

Update, Elle!
I have found the singer, Alfred Deller, on YouTube.
Not my taste, I'm afraid!

Hi, Rusty!
Thank you for your help.
I did not know "Yo", nor had I heard of Alfred Deller as a singer.
So I was properly stymied on that one!
And "lectors" is a new word for me.
As is "gate" for street.
Anne B does not have it...but Chambers does!
Regarding "northern "..... Chambers says that "gate" is a North England dialect for "street"
I'd never heard of it!


Thank you, Chris!
Yes, the "d" was a typo! I have "elongate" for the answer,.
I have never come across "gate" as meaning "street"
Yes, I now think it is "E" for key and "on" for acceptable.

I think it is a northern thing. Quite a lot of the streets in York are called "something"GATE, as I recall