There were the usual grumps from the other Numpty when we saw that not only were there two down clues side by side with either being clued first, but also that we were going to encounter nineteen clashes – with a somewhat complex explanation of how we were to resolve those to avoid a ‘Faux Pas’.

Surprisingly, our very first entry was ACAI and BEER – Saccharin regularly used in purple fruit – and – drink, healthier but not alcohol free (4). We removed the TT from BETTER to get the BEER. The regular letters giving ACAI is a crossword chestnut isn’t it? That left us in no doubt that Tringa retains his access to the Listener Setters’ Elitist Oenophiles. Cheers, Tringa!

Fortunately the clues were generous and our grid was soon sporting a rather surprising HONITON and AXMINSTER to go with that BEER – aren’t they all towns in Devon? When we had BUGLE, MULLION and LIZARD – places in Cornwall, there was a penny-drop-moment. Vismut produced an IQ crossword on this theme just about a year ago. Could that be THE RIVER TAMAR as the frontier between the two counties that have an ongoing quarrel about the order we have to put the jam and cream on the scones. (Up in the Yorkshire Dales we have none of that sort of trivial fuss – we just slap the lot on in any order and wolf down the result!)

Sorting out the clashes was not difficult and we didn’t really need all the help we were given once we had put the CREAM on top in Cornwall. Thanks, Tringa for a bit of fun!

Tringa’s second Listener this week with a follow-up to his Wine and Water poem from GK Chesterton two years ago (no. 4615, Ancient Mariner). This week we had seven thematic entries (including the three-word entry down the middle), lots of clashes, replacements thereof and a faux pas to resolve. Plus paired clues symmetrically placed.

First pass through the clues, and I was struck by the number of countries and regions peppered through his clues. In fact, looking back at Ancient Mariner, I found that was equally geographically oriented. My favourite clue was 29ac Troublesome Brazilian flies south, pursuing Italian for more money (5) for PIUMS [S after (PIU + M)]. I did, however, feel sorry for the OAPs at 14ac Old women barred from earning income (4) [WAGED – W].

Apart from a brief 1500km detour to Lisbon, Portugal where the River Tagus seemed to be trying to slot itself into the central column, the grid was finished fairly quickly. As well as the Tamar, the obvious thematic entries for me were the Lizard, Mullion, Axminster and Honiton, the first two in Cornwall, the others in Devon. It took a bit of Wiki to identify Bugle and Beer as the other two.

All that was left was to choose the correct letters for the clashing squares and see what that left. It wasn’t initially obvious to me that the clashes were predominantly in the upper half of the grid. Had I noticed that, the endgame might have been a few minutes quicker. As it was, I reckon it took twenty minutes to see what was going on with all that jam and cream.

Rejigging the ingredients to adhere to the apparent preference for their order on scones depending on whether you were in Devon or Cornwall resulted in some new (and in a couple of cases unusual) words appearing. I was left wondering what order the ingredients took if you were on a boat in the middle of the Tamar!

Thanks for a tasty puzzle, Tringa.