I didn’t realise that the search encompassed the text of newspaper articles, so I’ve learned something very useful. I thought that only the home site was searched but there again I’ve never used ‘search’ but I will now.
Sorry Gaufrid if this is off topic.

Yet again I find the Don a little “over contrived” in his cluing and (sorry to say) not particularly enjoyable!

“Who is to decide which words are unknown?” is not really the question we should be asking.

I believe that all the solutions to a weekly cryptic should be widely known to a literate and fairly well read public.

The skill of the setter is to give us difficult and entertaining clues to “easy” solutions!

In my opinion using obscure words, whether they are in the dictionary or not, seems a little lazy! (or dare I say elitist! Yes, I obviously did dare!!)

One of the joys of crossword-solving is learning new words and expressions and opening new fields of experience. The use of foreign words enriches our language, so – keep them coming, please!

Also the use of Latin words and phrases are part of our heritage and I agree with caretman @ 28 on the subject.

Buona notte, Giovanna xx

An entertaining puzzle which I found quite difficult but arrived at the correct solution…eventually. The clues were spot on as is always the case with Pasquale.

All hail caretman for his brilliant comment #28. I agree with him one hundred percent and couldn’t have put it better myself.

Re comment #27. How do you know Wolfie that ‘sui generis’ has been used twenty-two times in the Guardian/Observer this year ???.

We all bring to solving crosswords different experiences and knowledge. I have a background in mathematics and science, others in literature, others in arts, etc. What is a commonplace word or expression to some may mystify others. ‘Sinusoidal’, mentioned above, is an example. I don’t object to the lights taken from ecclesiastic sources or Elizabethan poets or cricket, even though my knowledge of those areas is extremely limited. I take it as a challenge to broaden my knowledge and to see if I can decipher clues from wordplay and crossing letters alone.

So if there are common fields of knowledge in which a word or expression is commonly used by writers in that area using English, then I think it’s fair game for an English crossword puzzle. And I may not solve it, or may have to use pattern matching software, or have to come here to find out how it worked, but to me that just meant that I didn’t succeed with that challenge and I’ll try to do the next one.

So thanks, Pasquale, for this challenge and the efforts you and other setters make to please as many people as you do with your puzzles.