I 1140

[carpetowl]

11a Cease hiding match official in torrent of items (4) R-I-
Thanks in advance

[shaneystar2]

ref (rain)

[juddy1]

So what is the answer? If RAIN, why, exactly? thx

[bibblebub]

remove REF [=match official] from REFRAIN [=cease] to get RAIN which is a torrent of things

[maggiebee]

Refrain = cease
Torrent = rain
Ref = referee

Not sure this helps much, perhaps shaneystar has a better explanation.

[juddy1]

Thanks very much! (Is it me, or was this a rubbish clue? Refrain does not mean cease, if you refrain from doing something you do not start it (eg he refrained from smoking in the dining room) and rain is not a torrent of items (although raining men comes to mind), unless raindrops are items?
Off the top of my head, what about "Short London sailor is drenched in this?" [Rating, dropping the t cos es a lunnoner, and the g cos es short. ]