WendyLou

Hi WendyLou.

Try OCHE, that's what I've got.

Good luck.

Oche is pronounced like hockey without the initial h. Attempts are sometimes made to derive it from an obsolete word meaning to chop off, from Old French ochen to cut a deep notch in something, though the link with darts is obscure. Eric Partridge preferred an origin in hoggins line, for no good reason that one may discern. However, the earliest written examples " from the 1930s " are all spelled hockey and the oche form didn’t become standard until the late 1970s.
more
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-och1.htm

Hi back again Dutchy....and thank you for your help, once again.
Would you say that this Stinker No. 71 was a notch higher on the difficulty scale than most others?
I'm hoping that 323a "dander" is correct and 280d "peloton" is as well. There were quite a few words I had never heard of before. It's good to have a challenge. Thanks once again Dutchy. Finally finished it. Good luck to you. You should be given the prize each month. :-)

Hi WendyLou.

I agree with you this Stinker was quite difficult and took me some time to solve.
"Dander" and "Peleton" are correct. Been doing them for years but prizes are far and in between.

Now on to Big Crossword. I am addicted and obviously so are you Dutchy.

Never a truer word spoken.