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Can anyone explain the parsing of 20d: "Potential killers picking up the pieces?"

It looks like GUNMEN and all I can think is that the "pieces" are guns and that the men are only potential killers because they're still in the process of picking up their weapons. Is there a better explanation?

Hi zinc,

Yes, a gun can be a “piece”. In the game of chess, the pieces are sometimes referred to as “men”. So the definition is “potential killers”, and the wordplay leads to two different types of pieces.

Thanks Wintonian. That's a far better explanation than the one I was struggling with! All makes sense now.

Glad to be of help, zinc!