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Hey, Rusty!
Your answer for the Times clue sounds fine to me? I hadn't heard of the word "soz", but your parsing sounds good.
"Soz" is in my Chambers as a slang word for "Sorry".
It is also in Collins, but not in my Oxford dictionary.
I am not sure whether Malone thinks that it is a "rude" word ?
or just unpleasant on the ear?
But I cannot find any reference saying such?
You are fortunate in having dry weather.
We seem to have been alternating with West Kensington.
I have this vision of the rain clouds whizzing backwards and forwards between here and there!
Tomic has just beaten Muller!

No,Elle,I don't think 'soz' is a rude word. I don't like it because it is an ugly word-ugly on the eye and ugly on the ear!

...and sorry, Elle, I should have thanked you for the dictionary information - my Chambers is the 12th edition, so I think 'soz' must have crept in (marched in) fairly recently. I found 'soz' in the Oxford dictionaries online.

Hello, Elle!
I have just never ever heard of the word.
I checked Chambers and Bradfords, but no.
My Chambers is from 2006.
I wondered if it came from the land of "lol" and "ttfn" etc.
My dry weather is a welcome change!
What happened to your wee crow?

OMG, Rusty, you got it right away, LOL. The Oxford dictionaries say that 'soz' is 'British informal (especially in electronic communication), sorry'. TTFN, l8rs.

Malone,
I know, now, OH is not an expression of surprise, but means "other half" when referring to a wife or husband. I do not care for it.
And SIL means sister-in-law.
Always learning!

Yes,I can acknowledge the existence of these 'languages', but I'm not aiming for fluency any time soon!

I had no idea what was meant by MIL- mother in law or MAMIL, maddle aged men in lycra (cyclists!)

Hi, Rusty!
It is weird, isn't it, how the dictionaries vary from edition to edition....and also from each other, regarding what they do and do not include?
And no mention of any "electronic" usage in any of my dictionaries!
I have yet to do any crosswords today....John has gone away on holiday (again) and so I didn't have screen shots of the puzzles this morning.
We belatedly bought a paper, but I haven't had chance to look yet....but at least I now have the answer to 7D!!
Ah, the baby crow....... he wasn't there this morning, so maybe, just maybe, the parents managed to "rescue" him?
We can hope so...but realistically I should think it more probable that a fox got him.
So, the crossword...... I'd better make a coffee to stimulate my brain cells.....

I always wondered what to call a middle -aged man in lycra.......