Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

12a where Spaniards were silent almost 24 hours that's nothing to a frenchman(6) D??I?N

I think my letters are correct!
Tia

De Rien means 'that's nothing', it doesn't matter etc, in French.That's as much as I can see!

Thank you chips

DARIEN in Panama was conquered by the Spanish conquistadors. DA(Y) almost 24 hours + RIEN French for "nothing" . Don't get the "silent" but though.

"bit" not "but"!

John Keats wrote a poem that ended with "Silent, upon a peak in Darien""

Does that have any relevance?

Here's the poem...…

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44481/on-first-looking-into-chapmans-homer

Keats famously got the wrong Spaniard - it was Balboa who first saw the Pacific from the peak in Darien!

You'll remember, elle, that Darien was what the Swallows called the promontory from which they first saw Wild Cat Island.

Goodness, Chris, it's a very long time since I read all the "Swallows and Amazons" books.......altho I do still have a few on my bookshelves!
I think Wild Cat Island was based on an island in Coniston Water?

I remember climbing Coniston Old Man, only to have a mist come down...and we couldn't see a thing by the time we got to the top!

So, do you think the "Silent, upon a peak in Darien"" at the end of Keats' poem, is what was referred to in the Guardian clue?

Yes, elle - "Wild Cat Island" is exactly like Peel Island on Coniston SWater.