"SCRIVENER"? Anagram of 'service' and 'RN' - the latter being the 'senior service' and a type of cigarette produced by Players. Convoluted? Backhander/Bribe/Broker/Scrivener ??? Dunno. Anyway, again, it'll muck up your 'E' in this one too. I shall retire.

Why am I confusing myself and attacking clues about which I know sweet bugger all? 23 Down could be "LEDA" ... If I recall correctly Zeus diguised himself as a swan to seduce her - which would make her a pen?

That would blow 'Scrivener' out of the water which, given the 'E' conflict sounds reasonable.

All correct, I think. NORA came to me in the night, and I'd actually considered LEDA but not added it up right and gone off on some other tangent. I would never have had any hope of getting SHAMATEUR, a word I don't think I've ever encountered before. It doesn't appear in my (somewhat old) Collins English Dictionary, for example, although it does turn out to be the only result of egrep ^s.a.a.e.r$ /usr/share/dict/words.

Anyway, thank you: not only insanity avoided, but a new word learned as well. I shall be forever trying to find excuses to use it in conversation :)

These days, matt, the oportunities would be few and far between. I remember the word being used fairly frequently in days gone by - mainly to do with Olympic Games competitors and Rugby Union players in the days when all participants were supposed to be amateurs. Whilst the meaning of the word is pretty much obvious, as is its etymology, I'm not sure when it was coined. One source (Allwords.com) indicates the late 19C. The dictionary I have here in the workshop (Penguin) is of no assistance.