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seems to me that, for the "first" not to be redundant, you have to take out an "a" at the top and then the "s"

Hi Chris,

I think the word you and Jono refer to begins with an A , but Chambers gives "ro......." as "to excite" so there's no need to put and then delete an A as the first letter, just the "first stripper's top".

Hi Prospero,

The letter to be removed (stripper's top) occurs twice in the synonym for "excites" so I think "first" is just telling us which one of them we have to remove.

I see your point, Brendan, but the word beginning with A is much closer to "excite" than the one without it, I think.

I agree Chris but Chambers does confirm that to "ro...." does mean "to excite" so I'm fairly confident that the word that Puck intended.

I think you’re correct Brendan, makes sense

Oh my, what wonderful words we have at 11a and 20a! Thanks for the pointers Brendan, because they are so obscure that I had to cheat by using an anagram solver, an area if the internet I have not ventured into before, and the first choice did not include one of them but I knew to look elsewhere.

Living in Michigan, a swing state no less, I am fed up to the back teeth hearing about the T word, as well as being disconcerted to say the least about various policies, lies and misdemeanours, so it was rather wonderful to see these expressive Shakespearean-sounding words that I will add to my lexicon forthwith! Being a Brit is the US I am often asked what I think in a way that seems like I am representing an entire nation’s opinion on the current incumbent. To lighten the situation I delight in telling Americans what the T word means in British English, and they are amused to find out that they a Mr Fart is in charge here.... Now I will say that he is a xxxxxxxxxxxx and a xxxxxxxxxxxx!!

Hi Femmenoire,

I couldn't agree more - 11a and 20a are such brilliant words, the trick will be knitting them seamlessly in to a sentence:-)

Having spent an inordinate amount of time before parsing 7, I agree with Brendan.

I’m with you femmenoire, it would be nice to find a crossword with no political overtones once in a while. Vlad yesterday was particularly explicit I thought. That said, I was reminded, by the good folk over at 225, that Araucaria used to do it, so I guess it’s part of crossword life we live with :)