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I must confess it didn't occur to me to enter numbers. I don't think the second sentence necessarily clarifies it. It says, "All answers need to be written thematically to fit into the grid." That implies the reason for the thematic representation is to enable them all to fit the grid. The fact that some fit without special treatment doesn't necessarly imply that numbers must be used - they are still written thematically as letters because there are no non-thematic letters or pairs of letters.

I agree murky. Every cell is filled thematically when individual letters or pairs are used. I see no reason to convert to numbers.
I has to google the pair in the last cell of 7. Not in my Chambers but was there on the internet when I looked for it.

And the last cell of 8?

Indeed.
One more thought - think it is reasonable to expect the thematic pairs to be entered correctly in terms of upper and lower case.

I find it interesting how we are split on the entries. I’m still going for letters but obviously where pairs occur the second letter must be lower case. I think the title was just a way of confirming the theme.

Still struggling to fill the grid. The NE corner is proving elusive- help please for 15ac or 6d. Also, I can't see what goes in Square 28 - my F doesn't work for 28d?

The name is still completely beyond my ken - would knowing the nationality help?

Sorry to be so dim, when you're all discussing the next step!

Hi, dylan,

15ac is a seven letter name of a French astronomer. The word “I’ll-bred” is extra. 6dn has a three letter abbreviation of the Latin version of Charles, surrounding the usual one-letter abbreviation of old, followed by an old name for the note usually called “ti”, followed by a two-letter abbreviation of shorthand, eight letters in all.

Yes, the letter in square 28 is F. 28dn has an extra word, “very”, which is a good hint as to the nationality of the person as it’s the last letter of the name.

The question to me is - is 1899 a thematic representation of ARES, or is ARES a thematic representation of 1899. As the puzzle is called 1899, I am going for the latter now and using only letters - but I'm probably wrong!

Just a further thought about the letters/numbers issue. Four of the six answers that have the same number of letters as the available cells in the grid can be written thematically in more than one way. Therefore the preamble stipulation that they must be written thematically to fit the grid applies to them as well since only one way will fit the grid.

If those answers are written as numbers they won't fit the grid in the normal sense of fitting the grid.

I have been wrong before in assessing what the editors require, but I'd be very surprised if they require numbers, and to me the preamble wording precludes it.

I hate to disagree, murky, but "fitting the grid" in the way I think you mean it - ie. one character/digit per cell - rules out the letter method as well. On balance I'm going for the letter method, but it will be most unfair, I think, if either (assuming otherwise correct) is ruled out. I look forward to the politely-expressed unholy row in due course. It will put the hare in the shade and no mistake.