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CDP1802 wrote: long white beard
Huh? Moses was an Egyptian citizen and still a young man when they crossed the Red Sea. If he had a beard at all (most Egyptian men did not) it would have been one of those elaborate plaited jobs and definitely not white.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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And you are arguing about the facial hair of a myth!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Nope. I'm arguing about the facial hair of a legend. There is a considerable difference.
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Are you looking at becoming a Juniper berry producer?
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians.
Help end the violence EAT BACON
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Not much chance of that either side of the Med. Juniper's a North European native. He could just stay in England for supplies!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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I wasn't trying to be serious with my reply though
Every day, thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians.
Help end the violence EAT BACON
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Welcome to the Law of Unintended Consequence! 
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Nagy Vilmos wrote: I'm...
Faarrrkkkk off. You're in Euroland, nothing is far away. Come on down to Oz, and then tell me about long distances and travel time.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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I dig to beffer, London to Budapest is 15-18 hours and 1,000 miles by car.
veni bibi saltavi
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No places are just as far apart as Oz, just that there are a LOT more things between one place and another. I don't think there is anywhere in Europe where you can drive in a straight line for 50km and not see even a house let alone a town.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Unless you meant drive by car, the new Gotthard railroad tunnel is 57 kilometers of nothing at all! 
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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American celebrities have to vacate! (6)
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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CANADA
cheers,
Super
------------------------------------------
Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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Mmm...
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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Nope, but I am curious. Reasoning?
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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Hugh Hefner sold his Mansion, as I read today....so all the celebs have to leave 
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Brexit
(No idea - it has "exit" for vacate in it?)
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Nope, that's not it, I am afraid.
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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Oh dear! Do I detect a fodder as plural error? Professional bugbear alert:
American celebrity has to vacate
CANCEL (Hidden word)
Unless I'm completely wrong, of course!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Of course that's correct, but why does it need to be singular? 
You have just been Sharapova'd.
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Because in the wordplay you're using the formula x$ is contained in y$ where, as all programmers should recognise, y$ is a single entity. So AMERICANCELEBRITIES (by convention spaces and punctuation ignored) has CANCEL within it. To prevent that making nonsense of the surface reading of the clue the simplest solution is to make it 'celebrity' instead.
To look at it from the other end, what does 'American celebrities have (ie. contain)' actually mean? Both words ('and' implied) separately contain the answer? Clearly not!
There are, sadly, now a number of editors who would publish your original clue without a second thought (fortunately my editor is not among them) but that's reflective of a general slip in standards of which I most heartily disapprove. Too many would also accept "I am in the cowshed" for BAIRN, for example, where clearly the intent of the wordplay is "I is in the cowshed".
Pedantry, it may be, but not all pedantry is bad. To me Ximene's dictum, "You needn't mean what you say but you must say what you mean" remains sacrosanct no matter how flexible or liberal we become about crosswordese. Just as in English grammar there is but one incontrovertible rule, agreement in number, so in crossword grammar I maintain that both fodder for anagrams, hidden words etc. and answers are singular entities for the purpose of wordplay even if they are plural in their surface sense. Again, to put it in programming language, fodder and answers are always single variables no matter what their contents. So y$ contains x$ even when y$ = "things plural".
It all adds up to more problems for the clue writer to deal with but that's what lifts clue writing from simple engineering to art!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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To add to what you say - to cancel is not to vacate - it was blindingly obvious it was cancel but I wouldn't give hime the benefit of an answer 
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
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pkfox wrote: to cancel is not to vacate
Well, actually, it is. The legal term for 'cancel' with regard to decisions and judgements is precisely 'vacate'.
Quote: vacate
veɪˈkeɪt,vəˈkeɪt
verb
1.
leave (a place that one previously occupied).
"rooms must be vacated by noon on the last day of your holiday"
synonyms: leave, get out of, move out of, evacuate, quit, go away from, depart from, exit from, withdraw from, pull out of; More
2.
LAW
cancel or annul (a judgement, contract, or charge).
"the Justices vacated a ruling by the federal appeals court"
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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Fair dos
We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP
modified 7-Jun-16 13:49pm.
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