Jonah

Overall, I liked this puzzle and thought most of the clues were written well. Since the constructor notes specifically call them out, I thought [Deer stalking aid?] was clever and fun, but I still can't really make sense of SOONEST for [Most likely to succeed?] I think I get that "succeed" is referring to things happening in succession, and the next soonest thing is the one that will succeed, or take the place of, the current one. But if we already know it is the next soonest thing, the qualifier *most likely* doesn't make sense to me--how could anything else happen before the next soonest thing? I think this clue would have done much better if it were about succeeding a throne. I in fact briefly considered filling in SONN-EST as being the most likely candidate for patrilineal succession before I figured out the cross. Overall, though, I liked the puzzle, and that was one of my only gripes. If anyone has a better explanation, I'm all ears!