i don't understand why it says 'not in chambers' - the entry for cornu is there [a horn] which would be 'part of butter' = ram. the meaning of 'corn' as 'old-hat' is there too. so old hat + u[p] only half = cornu ??
yes pldcav, that's how i'm using it old-hat = old fashioned = corn. i know that the hyphen is missing in the clue but can't make sense of it as 2 words [old and hat]. can you tell me how you are breaking this clue down?
Bellabee - the way you have analysed it is fine. It's just that, for Chambers, "old hat" is an adjective meaning out-of-date, and "corn" is a noun meaning something old fashioned. So they don't quite marry up. I don't think I'd have noticed if Azed hadn't mentioned it, though!