Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Gitto - I presume that you have identified the misprint in the def. of 17d. The wordplay is a 4-letter word for "artless" cut by a 5-letter word for "cutter" with the whole lot turn upside down.

for "turn" read "turned"

A minor point about numericals, dodgepot. Until a few years ago, when the slot was changed to accommodate a date-sensitive puzzle, they were on the last Friday of Feb, May, Aug and Nov. Now they are on the last-but-one Friday. This will usually, but not always, be the third Friday.

will37, thanks for 17d - I should have seen the cutter, but at least I had the right answer!!

Thanks to Apt. Some witty cluing - although I suspect that 30 quintillion may be an underestimate (cue heated mathematical debate 😉) The theme was “apt”, too as far as I am concerned. I shall be making use of the items - including the eighth and one or two more - shortly.

Thank you for putting me straight, cockie

foinaven - I hope highlighting isn't considered wrong, because that's what I did! I also added a border as much as I could around each item and utilized 2 highlighter colors to separate adjacent items. As a bonus I wrote the names of the 7 items in the margin of the paper so there could be no doubt that I found them.

However, I am new to Listeners and curious what others think since the question of "how strict are submission guidelines" has crossed my mind multiple times. I frequently add a few "extra" details in the margin even when not explicitly asked to submit the information to "prove" that I found it.

I’ve filled the grid quickly, got the theme and have identified six of the items to my satisfaction. I believe I am left looking for a twelve letter item unless my four letter one should be longer. Is this correct? If so, is it just one word?

Since you are dealing with 46 cells in total, if you have 6 then that should tell you the size of the 7th.

I’m just checking that I am correct in having 4, 5,8,8 and 9.