And Arthur, you’re absolutely right about your cd’s!

@ Sil – an alice band is a type of hairband, like a hard plastic inverted U shaped thing to hold hair back off the forehead, if you get what I mean. As far as I know it’s a specifically British term, and I’m guessing from your name you’re not British, so the confusion is understandable.

Perhaps I didn’t explain myself very well. When I referred to cryptic definitions on 25ac and 27ac, I didn’t mean the whole clue, rather that the part of the clue that defines the answer (not the charade bit) is itself a cryptic definition of the word rather than a straight one. The cds I am talking about are – 25ac Local girl is a cd for a barmaid as she is a girl who works in a ‘local’, not a girl from the local area; 27ac a stye is not an eyesore in the sense that it is something that looks ugly, but an actual sore on your eye.

21ac is a reference to an Alice band which is a type of hairband that is made of a horseshoe of plastic that grips to your head. Apparently this name derives from Through the Looking Glass, as the pictures depict Alice wearing this sort of hairband.