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In the past, when a puzzle has dragged on past the weekend, it's usually because the endgame is complex or difficult to fathom - the endgame here was straightforward and very quickly concluded.

Drxx, you may have found the endgame straightforward, but I find it quite the opposite! I was hoping someone might ask for help with 15, one of my last two, so I was pleased to see that you were offering that help on the other thread. Unfortunately I can’t understand what you were saying there!

15 nurhag = tower
hag = broken ground
nur = hard part of wood

Thanks again quisling

Could you give me (and others who may be following this thread and wish to improve their game) some details of TEA and WorldWeb's searchable dictionary? Also you referred in your earlier post to BRB.

Many year's ago I wondered if the arrival of the Internet would destroy the crossword, It is gratifying to see that it has had the opposite effect.

My best wishes

Thanks, Krauton. I should have said I had three to go, not two. Now I’m down to 12 and 34. I would be glad of any help offered for those, preferably in the form of hints, though I appreciate that answers may appear on this thread.

rad - the collective noun for ?????? is 'unkindness'

A specific form of Budhism isthe first 3 letters of the answer + ANA (collected stories').

12 ravens
unkindness = collective noun for ravens
raven can apparently mean to devour greedily

don't know 34.

...sorry i skipped a 'd' - Buddhism - and if you let me know the problem you have with the endgame...

Hi, rad,

In 12, the definition is “is greedily devouring”, and “unkindness” is a collective noun. Ruth Rendell wrote one of her Wexford novels with the title “An Unkindness of ??????”.

In 34, Bodhidharma is associated with a three-letter form of Buddhism. “Collected stories” is an old favourite for a three-letter word. Put them together and you get the women's rooms in a house where purdah is observed.

I agree with everybody who has praised the puzzle. Definitely one of the best this year.

Many thanks, Drxx, Krauton and Wintonian. All done at last! I didn’t think of looking up unkindness in Chambers! I did, however, look under gang and did not find any mention of elks.

Drxx, you said yourself that you thought the clues were too difficult up to the point where you twigged the theme. My difficulty is that they were still very obscure and contrived even after I knew how to enter the answers, as is evidenced by the fact that I was still asking for help just now, about 24 hours after learning what the theme was.

As I said on the other thread, the puzzle itself was brilliant but I think it is such a shame that so many potential solvers would not get to the point of enjoying its cleverness because of the unreasonable level of difficulty in the clues. I have said the same about other Listeners in the last year or so. Not everyone who attempts the puzzles they see in the papers know about our forum, and some who do avoid it like the plague! Sorry for that reminder of the times we are living in!

Well,you did ask.