I have to say I keep getting amazed at what I am told is in Chambers. I am a diplomat and when I saw the clue I thought to myself what on earth can this be? Our Ambassadors’ residences are all called The Residence or The Head of Mission Residence. Our Consul-General in Hong Kong for example lives in The Residence. All the rest of us just live in Staff Residences. I was lucky in Hong Kong as I lived in a great old apartment overlooking Repulse Bay.

But I must say I have twice noticed the French Ambassador having a plaque up outside his home saying L’Ambassade de France”. I mentioned this to the French Ambassador in Port Moresby saying that he had the wrong sign and he just said “Oh, I didn’t notice”. But he didn’t ever take it down. So maybe Chambers has something. But not the case for us Australians.

cheers

As to your ‘residence’ query, (again) Chambers tells us that it is not only the place where someone lives, but also “The office, residence, jurisdiction, government or time of a consul or consuls”.
Those *&^%$ dictionaries …..

BTW, nice to read something positive about Mr Squires’ contributions to Crosswordland (which – at another place – is not always the case nowadays).

I agree with you. I found this Dante very difficult. Sometimes he uses double definitions which are hard to see as being double. e.g. overrun. But even when his puzzles are easy I enjoy them because he is clever and cheeky.

I hope I am not too late with this comment because I wanted to point out that Dante has made a mistake in 17D. A consulate is not a diplomat’s residence. It is his place of work.

And what do you think of 29D? A tapestry is not a picture is it?