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rrRobbo, O, C and WISEACRE, I think...

Sorry, fourth letter of 8r is A

Oh man. I meant the fifth letter! Should have spotted wiseacre. Thanks.

CARATS. I think in the old days they couldn't be sure of accuracy, so the declared proportion of gold was 'an estimate.' Of course that also gave traders a good degree of freedom.

Essira, Following your line of reasoning I'm inclined to agree with your previous post - ie the thematic items appear to spiral the wrong way.

And the implication of that is that the two sides need transposing, but that means the top row has to be read right to left, which doen't seem right at all.
Hmmm.

Thanks again Mearsault. That's what I thought but I could not find that definition anywhere on the web. I swear I looked in my Bradfords, but there it is, under estimate......That's me done in terms of completing the puzzle - rather enjoyed it - now to try and actually understand some of the puzzling parsing!

Just noticed a few posts were querying the directional spirals. If in 2D the stars represent for instance the growing cane and the plants pass behind them. In 3D looking from above the left-hand one is spiralling clockwise and RH one anti-clockwise, which fits the lyrics.

Crates, I don't think your description does fit the lyrics, unless I have misunderstood you. The thematic item on the right is supposed to spiral clockwise according to the lyrics, which it does in the grid, according to botanical articles on twining. The pole has to be viewed from the base, not the top.

The other thing that settles it is the reference to 'right-hand thread' later in the work. There is no doubt that the item on the right of the grid follows the same path as a right-hand thread.

You are right. Should check facts before posting (In my mind I had the spirals from the lyrics the wrong way round). Would have been easier if I had just looked in the garden, where both are growing, which would have confirmed the illustration is incorrect. Must try harder!