dt 25,422

[gardenknowin]

Very puzzled ! If 23D is SAND (Flowerbed in the desert? 4), how can 27A - Small mostly disgusting beetle (6) be WEEVIL, which is the only thing I can think of (WEE + (E)VIL) Any ideas, please?

[kayakamina]

I haven't seen the puzzle but Weevil is correct Wee + (e)vil

and the other one could be Gobi (desert) and Cauliflower

[kayakamina]

GK it could also be wadi...dry river bed. What letters have you got?

[gardenknowin]

Thanks kk - hello again! Had thought of GOBI, but can't see any commection between flowerbed (thought about river-bed) and cauliflower - let's see if anyone else is thinking laterally this wet and windy morn!! gk

[Magyar]

I think it's wadi. 24a is Tarpaulin giving ?a?i for the riverbed.

[kayakamina]

I think Wadi is correct...River = flower , desert is dry and Wadi is Dry river bed

[gardenknowin]

hi kk, our answers overlapped there! Reckon you're spot on, I had ?A?I with weevil being correct. A devious clue methinks ! Out with the Tippex....

[gardenknowin]

Thanks magyar, also,for confiming the compiler's devious mind !

[kayakamina]

I shouldn't make suggestions without the grid or at least the letters but I never learn.

Ghastly weather in the South!

Cheers K

[gardenknowin]

But we know you're brilliant, kk... weather in south, I'm in it too! cheers, gk

[Lipsiot]

In fairness, there was a question mark at the end of the clue - which always a sure sign of a devious clue.

Isn't it foul today - and my poor friends are getting married at lunchtime too !

[booknerd]

On an only slightly related note, gardenknowin, did you know that Mike Nesmith's mum (he of the Monkees) invented Tippex. In our household, perversely, we call it Mickey Dolenz, as in "Where's the Mickey Dolenz? I've made yet another mistake in the crossword."

[Helenpiska10]

Hi I have got weevil are you sure its SAND ? There is a Sani desert in egypt but don't know how that links to flower bed ?

[08012006]

Why does gardenknowin ask a question at 9am when not many people have even bought the paper at that early hour

[pentopaper]

Why should 23D be Sand? What has that to do with flower beds? I thought Sand applicable to desert, but not to anything I'd plant a flower in!!! Could it be desert as in "to leave, abandon?"