Wee Stinker - Bottom Left-Hand Corner

[ArranBrown]

I'm having problems with the bottom LH corner.

23A Stood in for made stand out (8) - I have RELIEVED

Which leaves:

21D Car 8 comes up (4) - R - -
22D Design (4) - L - - - could be PLOT or PLAN
24D By (3) E - -

and

26A Exhaust gaffer? (8) - - - - - - L -

The last letters of 21D, 22D & 24D are the 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of 26A.

Any bright ideas out there?

[scorpiojo]

26 manifold?

[elliemay1]

24 via??

[elliemay1]

21 arch?

[ArranBrown]

Good suggestion, scorpiojo.

[scorpiojo]

:)

[weecalf]

drof pity theres no such word as of ford backwards

[ArranBrown]

I like 'ARCH', elliemay. Unfortunately that makes 26A 'exhaust gaffer' begin with 'H'. I thought of 'VIA' for 24D 'By', but if I'm correct with 'RELIEVED', it begins with 'E' not 'V'.

[scorpiojo]

Or creM wee calf lol

[weecalf]

don't start lol

[ArranBrown]

Not such a silly idea, as CREM is a word, albeit an abbreviation for crematorium. However, while it is indeed MERC backwards, I can't see how it fits with the '8' in the clue - the answer to 8A, by the way, is 'FAIR'.

[decmangan]

21d tram?

[elliemay1]

If 'via' was correct where would the 'v' fit into 23A?

[scorpiojo]

Tram/mart works

[ArranBrown]

Or it could be 'TRAM' which is 'MART' backwards. That would confirm 'MANIFOLD' for 26A (though I don't see how it means 'gaffer'), 'PLAN' for 22D leaving 24D 'By' (3) E - F. Hmm.

[scorpiojo]

^ mart is an archaic word for fair

[ArranBrown]

Elliemay, the 'V' would be the 5th letter. That's the problem.

[decmangan]

That's what I thought Jo.

[Wharton]

24d elf

[scorpiojo]

Is an exhaust manifold also called a header? (gaffer)

[ArranBrown]

Drat my ageing eyesight and the small print! The clue isn't 'By', it's '8y', i.e. 'FAIR-Y', i.e. 'elf'. Well done, Elliemay, and thank you everybody.