d ex crusader

[eggnchips]

okay;helped a lot but stuck on last 2-
21d-Frenchman has a rant about mystic word-(6)
?A???A
25a-having the will to give time to the grounds(7)
??s?a?e ....is it assuage?

[johnalex]

25a Testate . . . . T(ime) + estate (grounds)

[johnalex]

21d Mantra . . . . M(onsieur) + anag: a rant

[grasscarp]

25a Testate

[eggnchips]

thx all- I was working on 'age' for time.. all done now

[Beatrice35]

Also, the word testate = having made a valid will before one dies. Yet, also concur with johnalex's most fine workings out.
Took me a long time to discover testate too! ;-) Finished this x word in the early hours of the morning- all with my brain + help of seiko's electronic Concise Oxford English Dicitionary which has a dictionary, thesaurus + crossword solver + anagram solver. Ciao, Bea :-)

[grasscarp]

I always remember this word as I went long ago to a radio recording of a quiz programme. The question was "What is it called if someone dies without making a will?"
People in the audience were murmuring, so the presenter made a sign like shooting them to shut them up.
The person trying to guess the answer thought this was a clue to him and said "He got shot"
The audience erupted into laughter.....