Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

The clues only parse properly if you spell them ending ISE - in 25a it comes from "Scandinavian" and in 15d from "Francesca" so one's left in doubt.

Yes, I liked that about them, since neither of the S's are crossers.

I'd not heard of Francesca though until I worked out the answer and googled ;)

Same here, I often have to reverse engineer clues:-)

I mentioned using Google on some clues, and "Francesca" was definitely one. 😂

Hi everyone

I was worried I wouldn't make much progress with it being Vlad and not starting until late. There is a fuchsia growing up the front of the house that should have been pruned a month ago. It took me longer than I expected. My husband won't go up ladders, so it is up to me - thank goodness for our three legged ladder. He did help with the clearing up.

Anyway my FOI was 11ac. I'm amazed PS and Rocky7 haven't heard of it. I suspect they are too young and too male to have read Georgette Heyer in their youth as I did. (needless to say, I have moved on from it now). It was closely followed by 14ac, but then things slowed down somewhat.

I am completely hung up on 8,7 though I have got 21,22. Please can I have a hint. Is it about football? It will open up the north east corner for me.

There are several clues for which I have an answer, but can't get the word play. e.g. 16d. I've only just worked out why 25ac is right. I have two potential answers for 13d and haven't decided if either is right yet. I'm also stuck on 4d, 27ac and 24d. I'll just get the washing in and return to see what you all have to offer.

Unfortunately I googled Washington + 3 down to check my answer (before I'd fully parsed it) and the first hit was from a site which gives you answers to cryptic clues :( At least it confirmed I was right though :/

Then I realised it was a double definition as well, duh ;)

Hi roof, 8, 7 is just an anagram, surprised you got 21, 22 without it!

16D parses as a 3 word comic containing a 3 word "savage" containing a 2 letter "had too many drugs".

13D is quite complex to parse (3 letter word containing a 1 letter abbreviation, followed by a 2 letter word containing a 3 letter word).

4D: Boris would know the answer

27A: I had to use a thesaurus

24D: the "one" is a 2 letter word and it is reversed.

Hi Roof,

I'm such a philistine - I needed Google to find out who Georgette Heyer was!

8,7 - is an anagram - definition is "getting furious"

13d - 3 letter "ready" around N(orth) then 3 letter "people" inside "it" then single letter "second" - definition is "thoughts"

And apparently I have had too much beer already to know the difference between a word and a letter, lol. I'm only on #2!

Thanks Brendan. Have very nearly finished, and the and answer I had written in but couldn't parse was 13 down. Still stuck on 27 and 24, but will get there soon I'm sure.