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...and having dual citizenship I'm probably best placed to assess this. And you continue to misuse 'Ulster' even though you know it's wrong ? Most peculiar...

Tut tut, I forgot about 'ut.' Thank you wintonian.

All done now. What a delightful payoff -- kudos to Harribobs!

Since NI is listed under ULSTER in Bradford's, I'm afraid you are stuck with it.

That's pretty pathetic. Because so-and-so says it's true, the it's true. I didn't have a great opinion of you before, but I'm afraid there's been a downturn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster#Geography_and_political_sub-divisions

If you feel strongly enough that wikipedia is wrong, there is the facility for you to provide a correction. I look forward in future months to reading, "Bradford says..."

Hi, Meursault,

As another person with dual British/Irish citizenship, I endorse your criticism of equating Ulster with Northern Ireland. But Chambers also gets it wrong. It defines “ulster” (note, lower case) as “a long loose overcoat, first made in Ulster, Northern Ireland.”

Hi Wintonian, I think when we've exchanged comments in the past, we have always tried to arrive at the truth. The problem is identified in the wikipedia page for Ulster :

"NI is often referred to as Ulster,[20] despite including only six of Ulster's nine counties. This usage is most common amongst people in Northern Ireland who are unionist,[21] although it is also used by the media throughout the United Kingdom.[22][23] Most Irish nationalists object to the use of Ulster in this context.[21]"

I think that this is probably a fair summary : it is an incorrect term (deliberately and antagonistically) used by unionists. And as the UK is mostly unionist, then the same mistaken terms get absorbed into administrative and media terminology. But all they do is perpetuate an error.

So I mark this puzzle down in that it's not inclusive of the different sections of Ireland.

Meursault, what got on my tits was Team GB. Obviously UK=GB+NI.
But I think we fall into dangers from treating such solecisms as micro- aggressions?

Hi Woodlouse, this is very true. And my original comment was a rather bored statement which poked fun at the setter who leaves the citizens of 3 counties without a province...nothing too serious. But what I uncovered, even on a crossword forum, from a couple of people seemed to indicate an intransigence to correct the error, or to have it any other way (not talking about Wintonian by the way)...which really sums up the whole problem...intransigence

The hidden instruction is rather misleading. In fact I would say it's wrong because it does not say what it means. Had it been properly worded I would solved it far earlier.