The long charades which Araucaria is so fond of are my least favourite of his clues. I find myself getting the solution from a few crossing letters and the numeration and then checking against the always admirably ingenious charade. OK for the odd one-word solution maybe, but not when it involves so much of the grid.

I’m as much of an admirer of Araucaria as anyone, and have been since he first began to set for The Guardian – but can I make a plea for an end to “The Master”: firstly it’s pushing an opinion unnecessarily – not everyone agrees and it does seem a bit like a challenge or a put-down to those who don’t; secondly, isn’t this sort of forelock-tugging a bit unseemly nowadays.

Let’s leave it with Mark @48.

BTW I don’t think we are ‘misunderstanding each other’ – just possibly seeing a bit differently. And mostly I trust your judgment.

As I said, I’ve had [almost! ] my last word @ 45: you’ve both completely lost me! As I said, it seems to me eminently simple – maybe even, after all, for me, one of of the easier clues!

Sleep well!

OED also shows that ‘dance a round’ (or his, her, their round(s)) is a longstanding standard expression with both literal and metaphorical uses.

We crossed. As you say the weaknes is lack of a dictionary ref. to spey + dance. But see the website (one of at least two).

Elegant as ever! And my experience tells me to respect your eye for a clue! But a niggle of doubt remains since the surface any way round is a bit strained.

ALSO NB the OED defines ’round’

11a. 11. a. A dance in which the performers move in a circle or ring, or around a room, etc.

This fits my case quite well (see above website). ‘Spey’, as the websites show, is clearly a recognised form of ‘strathspey’ in the Scottish dancing world and often seems to be a ’round’ (which one dances).