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Thanks unclued ..... i saw it on Chambers word wizard...

Nandin isn’t in Chambers - only nandine.

15D is used as a noun when referring to a device used when controlling a helicopter, albeit this definition is not in "Chambers".

It looks like there are various ways of completing the SE corner. I had HENNIN/RENNIN for 29dn and completed that corner with legitimate words. There are several alternatives for the second letter of 30dn. There are also ambiguities in the NW corner, and as already pointed out, 15dn is not in Chambers as a noun or verb. The preamble suggests that it is only 29dn that has alternatives, but there are several others. I don't think this is one of Doc's best.

Oh dear. I misremembered and may have misled yesterday evening when I said that both words I have for 29 down are in Chambers. One of them is there but I actually got them from Word Wizard and confirmed the other one by googling it.

piffleworthy (# 6), one of the regular beefs raised here about the Spectator crosswords is that, apart from when we’re being steered in the direction of, say, Brewer or the ODQ, there’s usually no indication of the principal reference work. I found 17 down on Word Wizard and, like you, also found it in Collins.

Thank you, the18racer, for that arcane bit of specialised info about 15 down.

peterm, I agree that this is not one of Doc’s best. Not for the first time with this sort of puzzle, I lack confidence that the set of unclued words he has come up with is definitive and that there are no alternatives.

Assuming that 15d is about aomething that goes round and round, wordnik.com cites the Century Dictionary, which has it as a noun meaning a poem of that kind.

Might not 18d be IRITIC or IRITIS?????


This has to be one of the clumsiest Speccie puzzles for ages - and they have been going downhill badly

IRITIC, if CYCLIC is OK

IRITIS, if not.

I am bemused by the SW corner where there are just so many possibilities, especially by 41a.

Pace Peter284, have we ruled out IRIDIA at 34 across ?