“Tarn” and “aril” are both very common in simple crosswords, and as I used to do a lot of them those were easy. 13 was fine by me, as was 18 – once cracked, they make a sort of Araucarian sense, not so much Ximenian. Of course the route from “ubiquitous” to “popular” is not one of synonymity, but the other direction is.

Although I “happily” filled in SYNERGY, all I could find for Seychelles is SC (SY is Syria…), but I suppose SY must be used somewhere, even though it makes very little sense as an abbreviation.

Thanks for the blog, Eileen and the rest of you, and to the gone but not forgotten Quantum!

But, with Murray poised to join our conquering heroes down under, (who would have scorned the need of a TWELFTH MAN), it ain`t all bad.

Then there`s tomorrow. I`m not sure what crossword hooligans are supposed to wear, but if K`s Dad is ironing his best shirt, I think I`ll settle for a quilted smoking jacket and fez. I just hope I don`t get legless and lose the dammned Chihuaua.

So why this post?
To live up to KD’s expectations @21?

Well, I’m always reading the discussions, and was rather intrigued by the TWELFTH MAN debate. So I looked at the clue and thought about it.

Maybe I got it wrong but I read it slightly different from what I’ve seen so far.
“One less than this number” surely refers to “13″.
Hence, I read it as “One, less than nr 13″ = “One, being nr 12″ = “twelfth man”.
The second part, “one does not get to bat”, must be the definition.
I don’t know anything about cricket [I see Men in White, running up and down for days and days], but Anthony Lewis’s WordWeb (part of Crossword Compiler) tells us “(cricket) a designated substitute player; he may field but not bat or bowl”. Yes, I know, it’s not Chambers or Collins, but still.

I am more into that other sport with the somewhat bigger ball (a round one, not oval), and in that sport in Holland, there is an expression called “the twelfth man”. Meaning: the crowd (to give the players just thát bit extra).
Maybe it’s like that in the UK too, maybe not.

Anyway, hope to see a lot of you tomorrow.
(hope that I will find a way to get out of bed on time, too )

Been rather delayed by Andy Murray and my grandson.

Thanks Eileen, I thought it was an OK puzzle. Thought that 16 was ‘home turf’ until the crossing letters made that impossible.

As others have said, I assumed 13 meant that twelfth was one less than the thirteenth clue number.

However, my reading is:
definition: celebrity; wordplay: BIG [substantial] + WIG [cover in court].

Can’t agree that 22a is a cd, its a charade of BIG (celebrity) and WIG (substantial cover).