The Week 590

[MCC]

Struggling with :-
4 down - Veteran car down under not starting (5) O?D?N Assume this is 'olden' but don't get the car reference.
9 down - Blackens (6) ?R?M?S Can only think of 'grimes', but don't like it much.
Haven't the faintest idea what the "Theme-word" is - the paired "Variation-words" seem to be grimes/simple, preset/Streep and safe/cell. I'm just not at the races on this one ....

[JoolsTwo]

4d(H) - Olden

[JoolsTwo]

Holden is an Oz make of car

[MCC]

Thanks very much, Jim - thought it might be something like that.

[pjwillcox]

preset and Streep are anagrams

[Phil7]

How big's the themw-word...

There's "Peter Grimes", "Peters"another anagram and Peter is slang for a safe.

[MCC]

Thanks, pj and Phil. I think you've cracked it with 'peter', Phil. There's a Peter Simple, too, isn't there? And a 'peter' can be a prison cell. The theme-word has "six letters, plural of a five-letter word, so I guess it's 'peters'. Thanks very much for all the help, folks. If I win the radio, you can have a listen!