Solving time: 40 minutes. As I began to write this blog I was still missing the parsing of three clues. I think I have them all now but one may still be in doubt. This was enjoyable to solve and quite inventive at times.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Mine with uranium left outside even though deplorable (7) |
| PITIFUL | |
| PIT (mine) + U (uranium) + L (left) containing [outside] IF (even though) | |
| 5 | What could be pints of tonic (7) |
| BITTERS | |
| A ‘pint of bitter’ is a standard order for beer in much of the UK. Collins: bitters – a liquor containing bitter herbs, roots, etc. and usually alcohol, used as a medicine or tonic and as an ingredient in some cocktails. I’ve never knowingly had it. | |
| 9 | Traveller departed without one carbon copy (9) |
| REPLICATE | |
| REP (traveller), LATE (departed) containing [without] I (one) + C (carbon) | |
| 10 | Adaptable furniture fun to convert (5) |
| FUTON | |
| Anagram [convert] of FUN TO. A sort of Japanese-style mattress that can be adapted into a seat. | |
| 11 | A talent king is able to knight at first in retirement (5) |
| KNACK | |
| K (king) + CAN (is able to) K{night} [at first], reversed [in retirement] | |
| 12 | Office worker English consider mild in character (9) |
| TEMPERATE | |
| TEMP (office worker), E (English), RATE (consider) | |
| 13 | Put back concerning chapter in correction for legally true statement (13) |
| CERTIFICATION | |
| RE (concerning) + C (chapter) reversed [put back] at the start of RECTIFICATION (correction) gives us CERTIFICATION. I have taken the legal definition on trust. |
|
| 17 | Burns topsides cooking in dish (5-4,4) |
| BIRDS-NEST SOUP | |
| Anagram [cooking] of BURNS TOPSIDES | |
| 21 | Mostly put off about time in situ once abandoned (9) |
| DESTITUTE | |
| DETE{r} (put off) [mostly] containing [about] T (time} contained by [in] SITU. I’m not sure about the purpose of ‘once’ here but I think it has to be part of the definition. [Edit: KensoGhost confirms this below]. |
|
| 24 | Body temperature approximately (5) |
| TORSO | |
| T (temperature), OR SO (approximately) | |
| 25 | First two characters to leave Belgian town (5) |
| ELGIN | |
| {b}ELGI{a}N [first two characters – A and B – to leave]. The Scottish town is associated with Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, of Elgin Marbles fame or infamy. | |
| 26 | Top managers on strike in computer facility (9) |
| CLIPBOARD | |
| CLIP (strike – clip round the ear), BOARD (top managers) | |
| 27 | Device that rocks cradle, with short wooden bar, not chromium (7) |
| TREADLE | |
| TRE{e}(wooden bar – shoe tree) [short], {cr}ADLE [not chromium – CR]. Fingers crossed for the first bit of this parsing, but it’s all I can think of. [Late evening edit: This gave rise to a lot of discussion below although keriothe had nailed it before noon, pointing out that Collins has tree – a wooden post or bar etc.] | |
| 28 | Right intake needs to be fixed for fibrous protein (7) |
| KERATIN | |
| Anagram [needs to be fixed] of R (right) INTAKE. The main component of skin, nails hair etc. |
|
| Down |
|
| 1 | Small dog eating top of royal uniform’s wig (6) |
| PERUKE | |
| PEKE (small dog) containing [eating] R{oyal} [top of…] + U (uniform – NATO alphabet) | |
| 2 | A person with hard shoes and carpet’s ruined (3,6) |
| TAP DANCER | |
| Anagram [ruined] of AND CARPET | |
| 3 | Come and go as bird around empty chick (7) |
| FLICKER | |
| FLIER (bird) containing [around] C{hic}K [empty] | |
| 4 | Superlatively stupid, however for Texan (9) |
| LEASTWISE | |
| LEAST WISE (superlatively stupid). ‘Texan’ indicates the Americanism. | |
| 5 | Smile having caught river fish (5) |
| BREAM | |
| BEAM (smile) containing [having caught] R (river) | |
| 6 | Fine fabric put over butter, say, and cheese (7) |
| TAFFETA | |
| FAT (butter, say) reversed [put over], FETA (cheese) | |
| 7 | A spot of index-tracking makes more (5) |
| EXTRA | |
| Hidden in [a spot of] {ind}EX-TRA{cking} | |
| 8 | Burning last of methane in piping (8) |
| SINGEING | |
| {methan}E [last of] contained by [in] SINGING (piping). SOED: pipe – talk or sing weakly and shrilly. | |
| 14 | Riding to hounds is flourishing (2,3,4) |
| IN THE PINK | |
| Fox-hunters ride to hounds. ‘Hunting pink’ refers to the red tunics they wear. | |
| 15 | Bring in insect in material (9) |
| IMPORTANT | |
| IMPORT (bring in), ANT (insect) | |
| 16 | Well-trained, I’d been to swimming (8) |
| OBEDIENT | |
| Anagram [swimming] of I’D BEEN TO | |
| 18 | Uncovered studies set up involving family relations (7) |
| SKINNED | |
| DENS (studies) reversed [set up] containing [involving] KIN (family relations) | |
| 19 | Future commanding officer and king for thirty-one days (7) |
| OCTOBER | |
| OC TO-BE (future commanding officer), R (king) | |
| 20 | Impassive god holding summit of Olympus (6) |
| WOODEN | |
| WODEN (god) containing [holding] O{lympus} [summit of…] | |
| 22 | Follow on with witness covering sawn-off gun (5) |
| SEGUE | |
| SEE (witness) containing [covering] GU{n} [sawn-off] | |
| 23 | Relative swelling on giving up carbohydrate (5) |
| UNCLE | |
| {carb}UNCLE (swelling) [on giving up carbohydrate] | |
DNF. Missed PERUKE but it sounds familiar. I thought 26a CLIPBOARD was quite clever. 25a ELGIN definitely a baddie! 27a TREADLE fitted the clue but I wasn’t sure of the parsing but your explanation seems to fit, although wooden bar for tree is a stretch for me, forgive the pun. Didn’t see the ‘rec’ reversal in CERTIFICATION and just went off the literal.
Thanks Jack and setter.
I’ve always thought of shoe trees as made of metal, but at least one of the usual dictionaries mentions wood.
Mine are made of wood, but you can’t describe them as ‘bars’. I think the explanation is more direct here: Collins defines ‘tree’ as ‘a wooden post, bar etc’. I’ve no idea what context you’d use this in but I don’t think shoes need be involved.
Finished in 25, continuing the seemingly endless pattern of doing well on the puzzle but getting stuck at the end. Did not submit as had no idea about IN THE PINK and BITTERS (reasonable guesses though they were). Thanks for the clarification!
Around 90 minutes Mainly due to four initial errors PITIOUS for PITIFUL, CORROBORATION for
CERTIFICATION, DISSOLUTE for DESTITUTE and ON THE HUNT for IN THE PINK. These cost me tremendous time until I worked out them out.
Jack the “once abandoned” is because once/after the person is abandoned the person is “destitute”. Destitute by itself generally is not a synonym of abandoned whereas dissolute for example is.
Skin does not have keratin. Collagen is the skin protein.
Thanks, KG, I thought it might be along those lines but wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t know about keratin, but my info was taken from Collins and SOED, both of which mention skin, although Collins specifies ‘outer layer of the skin’ if that makes it any better.
Collins for KERATIN: “a fibrous protein that occurs in the outer layer of the skin and in hair, nails, feathers, hooves, etc.”
I know this because my skin is, alas, prone to one or more forms of keratosis, conditions marked by the formation of horny growths (keratoses), like warts (though I don’t, mercifully, get warts).
45 mins but with quite a few cheeky checks. DISSOLUTE being one that flashed IN THE PINK.
I was sure my LOI CERTIFICATION was starting REC, misunderstood the instruction.
COD IN THE PINK
Looking at the helpers, I kept thinking of possible answers that didn’t stand up to scrutiny. Clever work, setter!
Jack, I think the point of “certification” is that the certifier confirms accuracy: of a copy of a birth or wedding certificate for example.
Thanks. Yes, it was only the part of speech that raised a doubt in my mind, however I later found this in Collins that seems to nail it exactly: certification – (law) a document attesting the truth of a fact or statement.
Not bad! But isn’t a shoe tree made up of multiple bars? I saw TREADLE a long time before I resigned myself to it. Also BITTERS, which I decided was basically a double definition, with the two parts not different enough from each other to create much of a spark.
Still, glad that it didn’t hang me up as long as yesterday’s… on Monday… the [T]ime[s] is out of joint!
I did OK, but once again got stuck at the end. Sloppy writing made the I of skinned look like a T – I’ll never finish that way. The crossers of singeing and bitters was tough – I was looking for piping in the sense of hot.
Time: 31:06
After yesterday’s toughie this was a comparative breeze, and despite a few hang-ups towards the end I got through it in 19.55. At first I thought I was going to struggle when my first pass of the top half acrosses yielded just FUTON and a tentative SOUP, but then PERUKE (known only from here) went straight in and I started to make headway. All the same I required Jack’s blog to understand UNCLE, OCTOBER, TREADLE (still don’t really get it) and LOI CERTIFICATION.
From Visions of Johanna:
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re trying to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doing our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, tempting you to defy it
Lights FLICKER from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
…from the (inscrutably titled) album Blonde on Blonde, recorded in Nashville, with Columbia Studios janitor Kris Kristofferson emptying the ashtrays.
Wow, he was really putting that Rhodes scholarship to good use! Fascinating info Guy, thank you. Did that pop up in one of the obits perchance?
«Everything was very copacetic. Everything was all right until — until — Kris Kristofferson came to town. Oh, they ain’t seen anybody like him. He came into town like a wildcat, flew his helicopter into Johnny Cash’s backyard like a typical songwriter. And he went for the throat. Sunday Morning Coming Down. Well, I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt. And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad so I had one more for dessert, then I fumbled through my closet, found my cleanest dirty shirt, then I washed my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day. You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris – because he changed everything» – Bob Dylan’s tribute to Kris Kristofferson at the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year ceremony in Los Angeles
The helicopter image could easily be a Dylanesque flight of fancy, but it’s literally true (though it may have been Johnny Cash’s front yard)_
It may have. I haven’t read many of them, but I’ve known that for ages. Kristofferson’s Columbia janitor job lasted a few years, as he was enlisted to hold bongos in one hand and the (crucial!) cowbell in the other when Dylan was working on Nashville Skyline’s “Lay, Lady, Lay.” The idea was allegedly to show Kenny Buttrey, who was having trouble coming up with a percussion part, how both ideas were bad for the song, but the first take with this arrangement is the one that appeared on the album—and remained one of the drummer’s all-time favorite performances.
Detailed obituary in today’s Times.
I just listened to it again, what a masterpiece. The sound is almost like a samba with pedal steel/organ – which is obviously weird. The comments on YouTube are really touching, people taking deep introspective dives into what the song says to them about old partners, parents etc going back to 1969. Amazed by the Dylan quote though I’m still not sure how many songwriters typically land helicopters in Johnny Cash’s yard or anyone else’s. All I know is Dylan’s a songwriter and I’m not going in a helicopter piloted by him.
The Nation’s obit came out early this morning. I worked on it yesterday.
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/kris-kristofferson-obituary/
Thank you Guy, really nice read. So THAT’S what he was doing with a helicopter!
I was tricked into entering the entirely reasonable CHIPBOARD – with CHIP = strike (of a golf ball) and CHIPBOARD being the part of a computer with the microchips in that I’d not heard of before (because it doesn’t exist)
Glad it wasn’t just me!
Et tu….
Exactly the same here! I still don’t quite see how CLIPBOARD = COMPUTER FACILITY.
It’s where stuff goes when you copy, ready to paste. If only I’d thought of that instead of the versatile board where computer chips reside!
D’oh. Thank you.
I put dashboard which is indeed (at least nowadays) a computer facility . Tried for ages to force fit Daddy 🙄
I got this far down, and was wondering whether I was the only one!
Me too!
Indeed, what is clipboard? What is the link to IT?
When you use the cut or copy function on a computer the item is held on ‘the clipboard’ ready to be pasted to a different place. In many applications the cut / copy / paste function can be operated by means of an icon on the toolbar that shows an image of a clipboard.
23 minutes with LOI CERTIFICATION. I had similar parsing for TREADLE, not sure if the tree was the bar on its own. COD to OCTOBER as it’s nearly my birthday. Thank you Jack and setter.
I found this much harder than yesterday, and ended up copying (and pasting?) Ed’s error above after about 17 minutes.
Thanks both.
Undone by putting in chip rather than clip. Done in 23 mins otherwise.
13.10
Nice midweeker, nothing too tricky once you got the KNACK of it. 21ac reminded me of Paul Simon’s ‘Duncan’ (“Oo-whee, I was about DESTITUTEd as a kid could be”).
LOI TREADLE (still not convinced by the “short wooden bar”)
COD TORSO
35 mins and soooo much more enjoyable than yesterdays monster. I too looked at CHIPBOARD for a bit but decided, luckily, that CLIP was a more likely « strike ».
LOI CERTIFICATION that took a bit of working out.
The best known bitters is probably Agostura which many people add to their tomato juice or Bloody Mary.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Angostura bitters are, I believe, also essential for Pink Gin.
Absolutely.
I never take my Singapore Slings without a splash of Angostura bitters
My favourite soft drink is a mixture of ginger beer, tonic water and angostura bitters. This mixture is a variant of a “rock shandy” or “Malawi shandy”.
36:41
I found that one a bit of a struggle.
I wasn’t sure about IN THE PINK and PERUKE but it was the more straightforward clues that did for me. Still a finish is a finish.
Thanks to both.
13’14”, back in the saddle after yesterday. Didn’t parse TREADLE or CERTIFICATION.
IN THE PINK was LOI, not much news about hunts recently.
Thanks jack and setter.
Two goes needed.
– Didn’t parse TREADLE
– Took ages to remember BIRDS-NEST SOUP
– Had no idea about the fox-hunting meaning of IN THE PINK
– Considered ‘chipboard’ before thinking of CLIPBOARD
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Bream
LOI Clipboard
COD Elgin
I quite liked the two clues where relatively unusual devices were used, reversing the RE-C and removing the AB, but not TREADLE where I don’t buy the wooden bar being a tree (but can’t see anything else) and I positively detest CLIPBOARD where I had the MDF sustaining computer chips – I bet that’s been a thing at some stage in computing history. Surprised by pink.
Stop press: culled from the interweb: “A computer chipboard is a printed circuit board (PCB) that can be used in a computer. A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single PCB. SBCs are often used for development, education, or as embedded computer controllers.” See, I told you. VAR?!
Thought this was going to be tough on first pass, but FUTON got me going and it was a slow but steady solve thereafter. Didn’t parse TREADLE and I’m not convinced that ‘tree’ is what setter was aiming at – if so, not a great clue. That one aside, nothing too scary here and all fairly signposted.
I would say I found this harder than yesterday’s. I just scraped inside the half hour at 29:30, I had just 5ac to go at 29 minutes and thought I wasn’t going to make it, but then it dawned on me.
That spelling of PERUKE was new to me and I didn’t understand the TREADLE clue.
Thanks Jack and setter
I only got it from the French, perruque, and figured it must be the anglisised version.
Also the German for wig is Perücke. That’s how I first knew it but it has since come up her a number of times.
Peruque is how I have seen it spelt in English, as in the French but no double r. I never saw peruke before.
25:43
Enjoyable puzzle and a relief after yesterday’s struggle.
Many years ago, when I worked at the Beeb and they did such things in house, they had a Costumes and Perukes department.
I can testify to the efficacy of the German BITTERS mixture Underberg for easing a hangover.
COD to the simple but elegant TORSO.
Thanks to Jack and the setter and to Guy for the Dylan/Kristofferson story.
37:14
A relief after yesterday’s challenge.
Keratin is also linked to the eyes. In English, ophthalmology references both the Latin and Greek words for horn: cornea, corneal, and keratectomy, keratotomy, etc. The German word for cornea is Hornhaut (Haut is skin).
Thanks, jack.
This was a vast improvement on yesterday, and I only had to resist ‘chipboard’ to come home unscathed.
FOI REPLICATE
LOI SINGEING
COD TREADLE
TIME 9:34
20.34. A nice puzzle that I thought I should have solved more quickly. ‘Certification’ took me a while to see.
CHIPBOARD due to H being before L, and a CHIP being a strike. CLIPBOARD better answer all round, I just didn’t get to it. I assumed a typo when I saw the pink square.
Otherwise enjoyed.
DNF
POI 26a Clipboard; I wondered why a physical clipboard was anything to do with IT until I suddenly saw Control-C. Idiot!
16:03. I was, and remain, unconvinced by TREADLE and failed to parse my LOI CERTIFICATION. IN THE PINK took a while to come as I was fixated on the last word being PACK, and CLIPBOARD as a “computer facility” not thinking of cutting and pasting. I liked the gentle BREAM. Thanks Jackkt and setter.
40′ and had a few lucky escapes where I (unusually) reconsidered some answers. Hence I changed chip for clip once the app meaning of CLIPBOARD came to me. I also had IN THE PacK for a while before crossers put me right (NHO pink in relation to riding hounds) and also had to change my biff of duPLICATE to allow me to assemble PERUKE. Thanks Jackkt and setter
All done in about 30 minutes. Held up in the NE corner until I thought of BITTERS, which gave me my LOI SINGEING.
I couldn’t fully parse TREADLE or CERTIFICATION, which both went in based on synonyms in the clue, partial parsing and checkers, so thanks to jackkt for the explanations.
Several here that didn’t seem quite right at the time. but just about pass muster now. TREADLE is still a mystery: I suppose a tree is as close to a wooden bar (but surely not in a shoe-tree) as it is to a plant, which it sometimes is in crosswordland. And what’s all this about rocking? The only treadle I know of is one of those things under a sewing machine, which doesn’t rock it. Some of this I found rather hard and eventually used aids to finish in 50 minutes.
Treadles on sewing machines rock backwards and forwards when operated don’t they?
Yes, I suppose so. I was seeing ‘rocks’ as transitive, whereas it’s intransitive.
8:32. No dramas, no unknowns. I didn’t realise LEASTWISE was American: I’d have said it was just archaic.
As I mentioned above, those complaining about TREE need to take it up with Collins: ‘a wooden post, bar, etc’.
A little over an hour I think but got interrupted and left the timer running.
Got hung up early on thinking that wig was going to be something to do with ‘syrup’ as per Cockney rhyming slang. Much more in tune than yesterday which flummoxed me somewhat.
FOI was PERUKE and LOI CLIPBOARD, which I changed from MAINBOARD when UNCLE arrived. Didn’t spot how CERTIFICATION worked apart from the REC reversed bit. Biffed TREADLE. 19:53. Thanks setter and Jack.
Finished with a few checks along the way and several that I couldn’t parse (thanks for explanations Jack). Still not quite sure why OC = commanding officer though – know I’m being dim but could someone please explain why CO becomes OC…? Another enjoyable solve.
OC stands for Officer Commanding.
I did think I was being dim! Doh, thank you!
You aren’t being dim and the setter has this wrong. An Officer Commanding (OC) is a totally different beast from a Commanding Officer – lower in rank and in charge of fewer troops. My army son has been painstakingly teaching his parents the various ranks and the difference between OC/CO is basic stuff.
It’s a good point and may be an error by the setter, but one could only be certain if the clue had ‘Commanding Officer’ which would have to be CO. However it has ‘commanding officer’, which in a cryptic puzzle might be open to a wider interpretation as an officer who’s in command, albeit of fewer troops than a CO, e.g. an OC. I’m not totally convinced, but just putting it out there as an alternative view.
Ha, very good Jack! Not too late for the Bar with ingenuity like that 👍🏻
Ah, ok, interesting. Many thanks
Which is NOT the same as Commanding Officer!
Short for Officer Commanding.
Sorry Jack didn’t see your comment above!
Many thanks
38:25
Very enjoyable and all correct just within 40’ cut off.
LOI LEASTWISE after I finally accepted an unparsed CERTI.
Loved ‘time in situ’, and a puzzle that presents a challenge despite no obscurity in either clues or answers is my ideal.
Thanks setter and Jack.
Another CHIPBOARD here, so to the OWL club once more I go.
I didn’t know PERUKE, but the wordplay was clear once I had checkers. Didn’t understand the CERTIFICATION, DESTITUTE and TREADLE clues, so thanks for the blog, Jack.
Nice puzzle- thanks Setter.
A bit of relief after Monday’s monster; all done in 22 minutes. Nothing too frightening in the clues or the parsing. I have a pair of shoe-trees inherited from my grandfather (b.1889) which each consist of two pieces of wood, to fit the sole and the heel of the shoe, linked by two light metal bars which permit some flexibility. So I had no problem with 27ac.
FOI – FUTON
LOI – SINGEING
COD – LEASTWISE ( took a while to cotton on)
Thanks to jackkt and other contributors.
43:08, but with one typo. really liked the level of difficulty. thanks both!
34:59
FOI: PITIFUL
LOI: CERTIFICATION
After the FOI I took a while to make progress for abut 5 minutes but then sped up until the last few to complete an enjoyable puzzle.
Thank you, jackkt and the setter.
44:26
Bringing up the rear today I expect. I figured that if I had remembered BIRDS NEST SOUP twenty minutes earlier (could not make head nor tail of the anagrist, but didn’t help that I’d pencilled in some other crossers which turned out to be wrong), I might well have finished twenty minutes earlier – it appeared to be crucially positioned to provide that vital extra checker. Good workout once I’d got going though.
Thanks Jack and setter
Harder than yesterday’s by a way for me. NHO PERUKE. Unfortunately TORSO’s nice clue has appeared in The Times in recent times.
I enjoyed this and only took 30 mins which is at the short end of my usual times. Biffed peruke as NHO. I had chicken and birds nest soup many decades ago and it tasted of chicken of the days of monosodium glutamate.
25 mins. LATE for departed put me in mind of the brilliant No1 Detective Agency. TREADLE biffed, no idea about the TRE either.
45′-ish
Clearly not in the pink, finished tailed off, exhausted……
….. but avoided putting a hoof in the chipboard hole in the final furlong and all parsed and justified.
I cannot see any problem with tree as a wooden bar; crosstrees, for example, are used in sailing boats to get a bit of extra height on your mast.
I’m glad I persevered as there was lots to like here; pink gins all round.
Many thanks setter and Jack.
28:09
LOI was CERTIFICATION.
Narrowly avoided the CHIPBOARD trap.
In TREADLE, I assumed that anything made of wood can be called a tree. Many hymns refer to the cross as a tree.
Thanks Jack and setter
28:14 and all green, but with treadle unparsed. Having seen all the discussion, I now have an elusive thought that a tree can be a support beam in a building – in the roof structure perhaps – but I can’t find anything to back it up. Such a thing would be not unlike Il Principe’s crosstrees above. Or it could just be a fantasy on my part. You’d think, wouldn’t you, that I’d have better things to fantasize about. COD TORSO
It’s a roof tree
(On edit, at 9:50 pm) I took a moment to come back to this and found it straight away. Collins has rooftree (one word): the ridgepole of a roof. Wiktionary has roof tree (two words) (plural roof trees) (archaic) The ridgepole of a peaked roof, especially that of a house. The OED hyphenates it, but won’t give a definition unless I buy a subscription. Vocabulary.com has rooftree: a beam laid along the edge where two sloping sides of a roof meet at the top; provides an attachment for the upper ends of rafters.
So, I didn’t make it up after all
Thanks, that very interesting, but as keriothe pointed out late this morning Collins has: tree – a wooden post or bar, etc, so it’s really a lot more straightforward than many of us thought. I kick myself now for not finding that definition when writing my blog.
Yes. I still enjoyed my trip down this rabbit hole. Keriothe also said the definition does not help you to know where to use the word “tree” in this sense. We now have at least “up the mast” and “in the roof”. Nothing changes the fact that this was a wickedly hard piece of cluing
20.24 DNF
Yup but I didn’t even have the excuse that CHIP “worked”. It was my LOI and I just bunged in the “obvious” answer. Weak.
Ta all
Forgive the pun, but I think you’re all barking up the wrong tree, fretting about shoe trees. Surely the reference is to the tree on which Christ was crucified.