Demonstone

A couple of things I've noticed again tonight that puzzle me about today's footballers: 1. The practice of spinning the ball in their hands as they're lining up for goal. 2. Taking a mark in the forward line then walking back not facing the goals. The first may just be a habit but the second was drummed into us from under 12s as a big no-no.

Given their (self-inflicted) carnage, Simpson and his donkey might be more appropriate.

I'm not willing to discus this any further.

Not sure I can get over that hurdle.

Oh dear, what have I started here? I think you all need to behave like pole vaulters and just get over it.

Two peas in a pod. Was there a porpoise to this teaser?

Correct! It's a ripper of a clue I reckon.

Didn't spot that bit at first, but I noticed the backline of F.U.C. which I thought was heading somewhere that may have caused you some serious trouble with the mods. Having the first name initials before the surname may have made a good poser even more difficult to crack.

If Olympic boxers are enthusiastic about social distancing in the ring, they can knock themselves out.

F.U.C.H.S.I.A.S. B.E.C.A.M.E. D.E.M.O.N.S. Sorry Timothy, all your hard work spoiled so early! I'll try to make amends by posing the finest cryptic crossword clue I ever encountered. HIJKLMNO (5) The answer is a common English word.

Nobody's cracked this one yet. Is the answer the patron saint of ups and downs, St. Francis of a See-Saw?

Go for it Colin, the more the merrier!

Assuming the answer is neither "black sheep" nor "Batman", the only connection I can make in my mind is the song "David Watts" which was written by Ray Davies and recorded by The Kinks and later covered by The Jam (with Bruce Foxton singing rather than usual singer/front man Paul Weller). As for the rest of the puzzle .... NFI I'm afraid. I think you'll stump many of us with this one, EO.

The floor is yours Superunknown! In the immortal words of Arthur Daley, the world is your lobster my son.

You left out "Smoke On The Water". I suspect this was not an oversight! If I had to choose just the one Deep Purple song, I'd probably go for "Highway Star".

Deep Purple it is. Thank you linespeople, thank you ballkids and goodnight.

Grateful Dead is correct. One more to go.

I'll make it four if you give somebody else a go!

The Smiths is correct. Numbers 3 and 5 to go.

Four out of four EO. Zero out of three Grr-owl!

You're correct! It was a Hail Mary.

None whatsoever, LDVC! However, just to please WSW, you might like to find a link between these groups of footballers. It's immaterial if you haven't heard of them before but they all played at the highest level. 1. Daniel Ward, Dan Butler and Richard Osborne. 2. Allan Joyce, Jono Rourke and Joseph Marr. 3. Alistair Lord, Bernie Evans and Sam Glover. 4. Greg Williams, Barry Young and Chris Scott. 5. Corey McKernan, Michael Barlow and Royce Hart. 6. Graham Wright, John Barrett and Terry Waters.

Yep, Cowton's nickname was "Crazy Horse", which is also the name of Neil's longtime backing band. Thanks to all who contributed and I hope it was a bit of fun.

Sorry AoB, not correct. edit: Not sure what the "Dave" comment means, but not the right answer.

The Neil Young connection isn't Cowtown, but well played EO.