Ev 1676

[saladdodger]

One letter must be added to the clue to enable solving...

27a Hating to dress one flat gravestone (9) ?U????B?E

the letter missing from this clue is L

32a Did Smit literally almost fail to pay gambling debts in retorspect? (4) SL??

32a

[Neveracrossword]

32 There's a letter missing from the second word. There's a five-letter word meaning 'fail to pay gambling debts' (or follow through on a deal, say). That loses its last letter (almost) and is reversed. It's not a common word, but one seen in crosswords.

[Neveracrossword]

27 The first three letters of the answer are 'to dress', but in a sense I'd never seen - 'to dress a fly for fishing'. It's more commonly used for knighting.... The 'one' is the usual abbreviation, the flat gravestone is a very normal, everyday word but I'd not encountered that meaning either!  

[saladdodger]

Thanks ...got those 2 now...

...what is the flower/bloom in 19d? I have OUTO

[Neveracrossword]

27 - Sorry, I should have given a hint for the 'flat gravestone', it's basically just a household object, can be found in various rooms...

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, SD. I take it your 'Outo' follows the first letter (crossing from 18 A).  Those letters are 'in bloom' and 'out' and are contained in 'Russia'. Again, it was a new word to me, but Chambers confirmed it.

[saladdodger]

Thanks again...all done now icluding all the colouring in!...except how does 27d work?

Part with icy surprise ...DROP  K is missing ...assume it's icKy

[Neveracrossword]

SD, sorry - I didn't parse that one, I was so close to finishing by then, knew what letter was to be added etc. I'm not sure how the clue works.