Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Thank you, Jordan. Apologies, malone; I'll be more careful about how I request help going forward.

On that note:

11d: I have the answer, but to my eye, the wordplay works perfectly well without the need to discard a letter. There must be something I'm leaving out.

39d: I have an answer based on the definition being the end of the clue, but I just don't see how the wordplay arrives there. It's possible my answer is wrong; there's one unchecked letter that could be changed, and there is an alternative word that does seem to relate to the wordplay, but I also don't quite understand how that would work either.

Thanks, Chrisremo. You have nothing to apologise for, you asked for 'any nudges' and got an answer instead.

It's usually better to give the clues, even if you think most people will have a copy. Mine is no longer to hand, but I dug it out of the recycling bin. Oh, and apologies from me if thiose clues are listed in the thread, I haven't gone through it.

11 D. Savings account in Turkey appointed adjudicator (4).

The 'savings account' has three letters, so it's one of those that gets discarded. The others are our inside 'Turkey'.

39 D. Goad gossip no longer (4). A five-letter word for 'goad' loses its first letter, leaving an old (no longer) word for 'gossip', noun.

Hi Chrisremo,

11d - IVR for Turkey goes around a 3 letter "savings account" minus the extra letter.

39d - Is an anagram minus extra letter + 3 letter "expert - definition is a term meaning "bad-luck" (I'd never heard of it!)

Whoops, good reminder.

11d. Ahh, thank you! I just couldn't land on the appropriate abbreviation but your reply did nudge my brain onto the right track. (I am from the US and haven't been in the UK long enough for this initialism to be second nature to me.)

Here's my other request, with the missing clue included:

39d. Goad gossip no longer (4): I have an answer based on the definition being the end of the clue, but I just don't see how the wordplay arrives there. It's possible my answer is wrong; there's one unchecked letter that could be changed, and there is an alternative word that does seem to relate to the wordplay, but I also don't quite understand how that would work either.

Sorry Chris, I parsed 39a instead of 39d like you asked, but I see Malone has answered anyway:-)

...And my own reply was too slow! It turns out the "no longer" bit was causing me to overthink it. Thank you again!

Hi again Chris, if I might offer a bit of advice - it's well worth bookmarking the Wiki page of IVR (International Vehicle Registration) codes as they crop up very frequently in the Listener.

It's true they are also in Chambers but, of course, you can't look them up if you don't know them so are only really of use in parsing once you solved a clue.

Chrisremo, glad we could help. I've since checked Chambers (I was too lazy initially!) and the answer to 39 is defined as 'obsolete', hence the 'no longer'.

Malone, re para 2 of your post #62: there's no way either you or Norah is going to get me to type out the entire clue with (letter count) in front of each and every request, hint or comment - one of the ones to this current puzzle is ten quite big words long, there have been even more verbose ones to other puzzles; and there's no straightforward way to copy and paste. Frankly, life's too short (mine, anyway).
What's wrong with the simple (eg) 39d identifier?
I really can't believe that there are kibbitzers lurking on this Forum without access to either the grid, clues, or thematic information, just for the kinky pleasure of helping lame dogs over stiles when given only single-clue - and thus fragmentary - information.
Or have I underestimated the extremes that nerdiness can go to in this most nerdy of parallel universes?

(No offence or ingratitude intended, it goes without saying.)