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Hi, Rusty!
You are very clever to be able to do today's Times crossword - I have put my all into this and have come up against a brick wall!
Yes, I enjoyed (if that be the word, because it had a sad ending) "DCI Banks".
I have read most of Peter Robinson's books in that series, but the TV programmes seem to have been written by someone else as it says "written by (whomever it was ) based on the series by...."
One of the main characters has been killed off.....and strangely I haven' t yet come across her death in any of the books?
Surely it cannot be down to "poetic licence"?
I must have missed something, somewhere.....?
"Britain's Last Tommies"? by Richard van Emden?
I liked what I saw of him in that programme about "The Somme".
Are you enjoying the book?

Hello, Elle!
I am not clever at all.
I am quite experienced at crosswords though.
Been doing cryptics for about 25 years.
"Now what is this setter meaning?"
That is my approach.
It is a continuous learning curve, not unlike learning a foreign language.
Yes, Richard van Emden's book.
He came across as a very nice feller on the Somme programme.
The book is good, all in the soldiers' own words.
Many of them lived to be centenarians
Your TV series will have been chopped down quite a bit to fit the running time designated for it. Could that be it?

Hi, Rusty!
I feel a little better now that I know that you have 25 years of crosswording experience behind you!
After all, I have only been doing cryptic crosswords for about two years!
I have a long way to go to reach your level of prowess!
Now, the TV series about DCI Banks.......
As I understand it , it is a series specifically written for television and is only BASED on the characters written created by Peter Robinson.
They are not all original stories.
I think when the programme first started , the stories portrayed WERE by Peter Robinson, but these later ones seem just to "based on....." and are written by someone else.
There again, this is only my interpretation...I could have it all wrong!
I shall check on Amazon to see if there is a later book that I have missed - maybe one in which Annie WAS killed off.
Is this making any sense?
If it isn't , blame it on the lateness of the hour.......

Good morning, Elle.
I think you are correct.
Screenwriters change the book to suit the film.
I am sure you have seen a film and thought the book was much better.
The author may have been "consulted" though.
I don't suppose Peter Benchley had much control over the filming of Jaws once he had sold the book to the film company.
You learn more about cryptics the more you do them, Elle.
When I started, I had no idea that a river could be a flower, for instance.
This is my all time favourite cryptic clue.
"Turning into a different story" (6,9)
S?I?A? ?T???C?S?
I have forgotten where it came from, though.
I have added some crossers to help you!
Off to get my paper now!

Good morning, Rusty!
It is very cold this morning!
Time, I think, to start looking out winter wear!
I enjoyed my walk though.
I am always thinking that film and book correlation is poor....this is one of my pet "hates".
Apart that is, from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and David Nicholl's "One Day"
In both these instances, I thought the films were well worthy of the books!
Now, I have done your crossword clue!
Strange, isn't it, how one can do some cryptics, yet not others?
I think it must depend on how one's mind works!
"Turning into a different story"
story/ storey!!
"Spiral staircase" is the answer.
Yes, a good clue!
I am away out soon with my daughter and Baby.....shopping and then lunch!
What do you have planned for the day?

Elle, I know you have a busy day planned, but I'd be interested to see how you fare with today's Times Cryptic. I found it the easiest - by far - this week and, because of this, slightly disappointing!

Good morning, Elle!
Well done on the "spiral staircase".
The different story/storey made it for me.
A good setter, I think!
Now, I have finished today's Times cryptic crossword and I agree with the esteemed Malone in that there is nothing of great difficulty in it compared with the ones earlier in the week.
Speaking of different "storeys".
Dame Sarah was on BBC News this morning.
She spoke extremely well on the financial differences between mens and womens racing.
She was very articulate and made her points well.
I like Dame Sarah!
Hope you and family have a nice day out.
I am off to see my garage man.
I have a wee purr developing in my exhaust system and would like an opinion from him.
Other than that, no plans!

Good afternoon, Rusty!
Home again!
My daughter and I had a very nice lunch at the Toby Carvery - and a good chat!
She has now left to pick up BB from school.
Next week, we are to babysit whilst she and our son- in-law attend a Parents' Evening.
That has come around quickly, hasn't it?
BB has only just started school.....I assume the purpose is to discuss and iron out any potential early difficulties.
Seems like a good idea?
I have finished - bar two clues - today's Times 15 x15.
Yes, I agree with you that it is a lot easier today.......more on a par with the QC.
The two that I cannot do are
10a: Fox binds a creature in knot?(4)
T?A?
I am presuming "toad", but why?
and 23a: Bloom's nurse absorbing angry tirade (8
A?A?A?T?
("rant" for "tirade"?)
But that is as far as I have got!
Btw: a very good friend lived in Denton! (see 28a)

Hi elle
"TOD" is dialect for "fox", as in Beatrix Potter's "Tale of Mr. Tod", with A inside. I don't see the creature in knot, though.

Do you want the answer to the other? The nurse is foreign (as many are!)

ChrisE, Elle, a 'knot' is a collective name, apparently, for a group of toads.

Rusty, thanks for the 'esteemed'.