Guardian 26,495

[hairs]

He'd bend to steal my heart with song, all our lives embracing (9) A???C?R?V Splendid drink encapsulating vacation of course (3,4) T?P???E top hole?

[dzug2]

Top Hole is right

ARAUCARIA - so your X word is wrong

[Tilly2]

Arc+p(au)ll+ aria.

[hairs]

Many thanks fp. Do you think that the x word could be xmases? (The other outstanding boy returns for festivals, me thinks? (6)

[factor-fiction]

Yes- 'the other' = SEX; SEX returning = XES
The boy =SAM; returning = MAS

[factor-fiction]

^ and the 'outstanding' bit means standing outside.
So X(MAS)ES

[hairs]

Many thanks

[dannyk13]

2.Yes- hol(vacation) in tope(drink)

[factor-fiction]

Happy to help. It's always a lot easier to parse these once you've been given the answer- I may not have been able to work it out from scratch.
Why do crossword solvers still refer to sex as 'it' or 'the other'? Do people still use those expressions or were they just used in the 60s/70s?

[dannyk13]

"the other" was used in the early fifties to my knowledge.

[humbersloop]

really, and how might that be danny? ;)

I'm struggling to fit the grid I'm sure I've got a a word too many!

[factor-fiction]

Thanks, dannyk- I'll take your word for it as I wasn't around then. I only hear the expression nowadays when I watch an old Carry On film or On the Buses

[dannyk13]

Not sure about "it" but possibly was in use in the twenties derived from Clara Bow who was known as The It girl.

[scorpiojo]

Need any help, sloopy?

[humbersloop]

sorry not to respond scorps, only just picked your offer up

didn't have a word too many, I was fixed on jogged instead of journo, so just had the wrong word!

many thanks

[scorpiojo]

No problem :)