Times Jumbo Cryptic 1039

[Pete65]

13 down
Rome's third Prime Minister's heading off offer for change?(4)
?e?d

[ichkeria]

Tricky indeed

[Mass_Hysteria]

mend

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Crosswords/Question1249770.html

[ichkeria]

I don't think the answer is MEND

[Pete65]

Can anyone parse "mend", if indeed that is the answer?

[boxtops]

well, Rome's third (letter) is M, so that's a start.....

[ichkeria]

...and "minister's heading off" is (T)END. Trouble is, that doesn't explain the rest of the clue

[Pete65]

Brilliant, boxtops! Now, what's the rest?

[bookbinder]

tend?
(Heading off offer = tend(er))
change = tend (the wind is tending to the south).
I don't know where Rome's third Prime Minister might fit, though.

[boxtops]

I've never heard of mending something as "offering it for change".

[boxtops]

^ seeing the two explanations of End makes sense - perhaps the rest of it is just a poor clue.

[pixie373]

I think i was wrong. Sorry.
i thought rome's 3rd -m
heading off offer- (t) end
change- mend.
however, seem to have missed the prime minister reference completely :-\

[bibblebub]

VEND [=offer for change]

rome's third prime = V - the 3rd prime number is 5 and this is the roman numeral for it

minister's heading off = (t)END

[pixie373]

Brilliant bibblebub. I better tell the person i misled! Thanks

[boxtops]

Well done bibble - we were nearly there!

[bibblebub]

i've had 'mend' as the answer all day and didn't feel that it was right but couldn't come up with anything better - until a few minutes ago.

[Prudie]

Cracking bibble, once I had m from Rome in mind didn't think to question it!

[ichkeria]

I think that clue has stuffed a lot of people today.
The chances are, especially with the Times Crossword, that if you can't explain every word of the clue then you may well be wrong.

[Pete65]

Thank you very much everyone and especially Bibblebub!

[bibblebub]

you're welcome, and thanks for the opportunity to give more thought to the clue