Keith Aitkens Scottish Crossword - Express

[L9]

3 down

River feeding Loch Etive leaves gran sae confused (anag) (7)

E??A??N

Scottish school principals (7)

R?I???S

Scots for next or nearest (5)

N???T

Scots for if look spirited! (3)

??N

Bin road cuts up hill near Aviemore (3,4)

O?D,???N

Paint stirs to become no' settin' or unconcaity (anag) (5)

I???T

Difficult one this week, any help much appreciated.  Many thanks.

[bridon]

paint stirs=inapt

[biley]

The river feeding Loch Etive is ESRAGAN

[Quizmonster]

Esragan

Rectors (I suspect your 'i' is wrong)

Neist

Gin (with a hard 'g' as in 'golf')

Ord Bain

[Quizmonster]

Ah! Another bit of synchrography there, Biley.

[biley]

Scots for next or nearest is NIEST (or NEIST)

[biley]

You're too fast for me Quizmonster!  

[JollyJackTar]

RECTORS is Wrong, as is the R at the start.

[fordward]

I have to agree with Jolly Jack Tar

[Quizmonster]

Well, maybe 'rectors' is wrong in terms of this actual crossword, but I can assure you - having been both schoolboy and teacher in several Scottish schools myself - that their heads are generally known as 'rectors'!

So, Jolly Jack, you presumably know what the actual answer required here is. Why not just tell L9 what it is?

[L9]

Thank you all very much, all done now apart from one!

Is the principals one HEIDIES by any chance?

Thanks

[Quizmonster]

That's certainly a possibility, L9. However, it's a slang word in a way that 'neist, for example, isn't. It technically means 'little heads', using the typically Scottish addition of a 'y or 'ie' sound at the end to make the word - or the person concerned! - diminutive. A little house, for instance, is often called a 'hoosie', whereas standard Scottish dialect would be 'hoose'.

[fordward]

So now we no