The Foxer

A U/S clue made assembling last week's word ladder extra difficult. Sorry about that. Roman blamed the slip on Bagnold, the office scorpion. Bagnold, a very stroppy deathstalker, escaped a fortnight ago and has been preying on Roman's mind/cake crumbs ever since.

20. DACIA East European car manufacturer (unsolved)
19. PAVIA Total War battle (unsolved)
18. GAVIN WW2 American general (unsolved)
17. GRAIN Unit of measurement and fort in SE England (phlebas)
16. GREIF [A] Important Desert War AFV (phlebas)
15. FRIGE Anglo-Saxon deity (phlebas)
14. BRAGE Norwegian oil field (phlebas)
13. BRANT American Revolutionary War commander (unsolved)
12. TRENT RNLI stalwart (AFKAMC)
11. GHENT City liberated in early September 1944 (AFKAMC)
10. GHANA The founder of the Boy Scouts fought here (Cooper, Rorschach617)
09. CHANT One of these sank close to the Normandy beachhead (Rorschach617)
08. CHACO War involving French, US, and Italian aircraft (AFKAMC)
07. SHACK Descendent of the Lanc (AFKAMC)
06. THACH Gave his name to an air combat manoeuvre (iainl)
05. PEACH Japanese airline (iainl)
04. PEARY Val victim (AFKAMC)
03. BEARD Rarely worn by US Army personnel (AFKAMC)
02. BEANO Spherical hand grenade (All is Well, Cooper)
01. LEANT

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Remember how a 'masterpiece' foxer works? While you sift canvases searching for the sources of the sixteen puzzle pieces pictured below (all of which feature ships, boats or sailors) I sit here fiddling with a bulldog clip and thinking about lemon drizzle cake, Saro Lerwicks and the worrying lack of tadpoles in local ponds.