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S_pugh, if the surface drives the cryptic, and in doing so forces an abbreviation to be indicated indirectly, that is a case of the tail wagging the dog. It's a clue to a clue, and as such I think it's unacceptable. Where does one draw the line? If it's acceptable to indicate D by 'departed' because 'departed' means died, then one could clue F as 'succeeding' on the grounds that 'succeeding' means following, C as 'overcast' because it means the same as cloudy.

I'm not saying this is what the setter has necessarily done. It may be just a mistake that's been missed by the editors. But if the rationale is 'departed' = 'died' = D, then that's the thin end of the wedge for me.

I'm inclined to agree with Dryden. It wouldn't have taken much effort for the setter to instead code "For Macron, I (hosting May's sister and daughter) and gadded about."

Gitto, if you're still wondering about the thematic down clue, drop all 5.

I'll concede on that one Dryden, those examples you give would be a step too far, so logically D for departed is too. Strangely though It never crossed my mind that it wouldn't be D when I read the clue, so I must subconsciously associate D with departed (probably from A and D on railway timetables and the like which would properly be arrives and departs).

Thanks Meursault, the down clue makes perfect sense now!!!!

This is frustrating.

Four out of the five have something in common with a further one, which the 5th does not.....

All 5 things that are removed are removed from a larger set of 26 Woodlouse.

Sorry, dja. What I meant is that the Roman alphabet does not have JKWYZ, but does have X. Maybe the theme is not what I thought.

Woodlouse, it is what you think, just a question of time. You can google the number followed by the clue entry, and in the first 10 results (after an entry for a pop song by delta sleep) there will be confirmation.

Thanks, Meursault. Obvious when you see it, but I would never have made the imaginative leap.

I am still sure that it should be Z and not X, though. Could the setter just not make that work? I wanted INEZ for ILEX and imagine that it would not be impossible to make it all work.

There is a wikipedia site called ------- orthography. Catherine ---- Jones uses the letter in question.