Dt 27478

[nicat]

8a Keep umpire before shower (7) starts with a 12a Urgent court session's start for ushers (7) ends in s

[factor-fiction]

ref rain?

[dannyk13]

8a.Refrain
12a.Directs

[factor-fiction]

Forget that

[nicat]

why directs?

[dannyk13]

12a.Urgent =dire + ct +s

[nicat]

thanks

[factor-fiction]

I withdrew REFRAIN because I saw the started with A and wasn't sure refrain is a synonym of keep

[dannyk13]

Factor. Keep from doing something.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks danny. SI should always go with my first idea. It just isn't something that sounds quite right to me- I'd say 'refrain' but never 'keep' in cases like yours.
But if the A at the start is wrong it must be REFRAIN for the REF +RAIN reason

[dannyk13]

As I have said before Factor, I do the on line version of Telegraph crosswords and only correct entries are accepted.

[factor-fiction]

I'm not disagreeing with your answer, dannyk- I'm just querying whether keep is a good synonym for refrain. Something like "hold down" may have been better I feel

[dannyk13]

I agree it was not a very good clue.