7dn is Proculeius - one of Ceasar's soldiers (anag of pious+cruel). Any luck with 20 acr ? I guess the middle word is "the" but can't find a phrase meaning "improved" ... or is it ?
I got matchmaker for 8 dn thinking "organiser" was "maker" but I'm not sure now - we could with "Special k" (kayakamina) who I still believe compiles all these tricky ones from a penthouse somewhere in Barbados !
11d Scholar s mate ....chess move
17a Omega a << gem (stone) O <<<<(last in a series)
I have matchmaker .
Can anyone please help me on 24a
In Hamlet ,possibly wicked trader cutting margins .
I have E?L?
I'd go along with matchmaker(since that fits in with union - marriage)which means 17a likely to be omega,still leaves an unsolved 11d.
Must get on,will see if it comes to me overnight !!
10 Across: very likely to be bout, and the "sort of square" hint could refer to the last 3 letters, "out", because "square" used to refer to someone who wasn't up-to-date, not hip, not streetwise, and not "in". "My dad's a bit of a square, because he doesn't like my taste in music." So, if you're a "square", you're not one of the "in-crowd". In fact, you're "out".
Just returned from holiday and seen the correspondence re 10a Saga (4) Blockhead is old-fashioned and sort of square.
?L?T. The answer to my mind is 'DOLT' - an anagram of old (fashioned) and T - a type of square. Maybe this has been dealt with earlier but as I was away am not sure. I think the Saga is my favourite crossword and was lucky enough to win once. The FT is another good one. Cheers.