Which of the dictionaries’ top expressions for 2017 have been given the setters’ stamp of approval?
“Sometimes,” writes Oxford’s president of dictionaries, Casper Grathwohl, “you pick a word of the year because you recognise that it has arrived, but other times you pick one that is knocking at the door and you want to help usher in.”
1acPoliceman permitted to secrete leader of mafia, as in collusion (9)
[slang for “policeman” + synonym for ”permitted”, containingfirst letter (“leader”) of MAFIA]
[COP + LICIT, containing M]
18dIron short skirt and submit, content to be invisible? Not she! (8)
[symbol for “iron” + word for “short skirt” + first and last letters of (“content to be invisible”) of SUBMIT]
[FE + MINI + ST]
I have most of the time to stitch – then I iron (9)
[most of a measure of time + word for “stitch” + I + symbol for “iron”]
[most of HOUR, then SEW + I + FE]
1acLike fake news, a morass facing America (5)
[synonym for a “morass” next to (“facing”) abbreviation for “America”]
[BOG + US]
29acExciting events in the run up to Christmas sure getting messy (10)
[term for “the run up to Christmas” + anagram of (“getting messy”) SURE]
[ADVENT + URES]