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Ixion,
Sorry if I came across as a grump. I didn't get it til you mentioned n + northern country.
Like all your clues it's fiendishly clever. But I must confess I don't usually try them much because I'm always afraid the answer will be some dialect Scottish word or something trawled from the depths of chambers(something I don't possess). If I read this one right then a crossword puzzle = a questionnaire. That's stretching it a bit. I honestly think you are pitching things too high and being overly obscure. People don't want to do what they can't do, if you see what I mean. That no-one can do it in several hours must say something.

I hope my saying this won't piss you off, I really am trying to be helpful.

What even made you start to think that you came across as a grump?
there are no crossword clues too difficult or obscure, in my mind, that are not good fun.
Just every now and again we think that there is a stupid clue,and that we could of done better'

Thanks for the feedback Terry - I must confess to doing the Spectator and AZED for a long time without the benefit of a Chambers(and having to annoy people to confirm ans) - that one in hindsight was obviously difficult(though I thought the four sheets bit would give it away)and required some "crossing letters" - I've posted others I considered more difficult which were answered very quickly such is the standard of solving on this site - it's tough to get the balance right!
The actual definition part I thought was OK(though tenuous hence the ?) - a questionnaire being a list of Q's and Q(in Chambers of course) being defined as "the putting of a problem".

I really do appreciate the feedback Terry and will try not to make them unfairly obscure in future.

So how about me terry and ixion having a competition to write a clue?
We would need an independant judge.
And we would need the same word to start with.
Any ideas?

I have seen elsewhere(Guardian online perhaps)a thread where an answer is posted for cluing and the poster chooses the best clue - that person then posts another answer for cluing - could be worth a try here?

ixion -- that last post must have come from Gaza...

Michael Gambon's always good!

just filled in my census form,
unbeknown to me there were 10 sexy 20+ year old girls in my bedroom.
If only!

When he's not blind drunk. Then his singing's defective!

Yeah,that's a great idea.

How about something like.....

We ask Jolan (next tuesday) to start a new thread called "clue setting for arseholes" or something. He provides the 1st answer and sets the closing date/time for when HE will decide the winner. He doesn't have to justify anything he says if he doesn't want to. He just picks a best in show for whatever reason he wants.
The "winner" will then do the same,(using the same thread) and so on and so on.

The winner will have to be around when Jolan announces it. I can see this bit being a problem.