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Study of the rocky personal relationship between successive popes Answer PETROCHEMISTRY

ROCK=PETR
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petr-

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP=CHEMISTRY

BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE POPES might be between the two Ps,giving "O"

PETR O CHEMISTRY

STUDY Being the definition and the word play determining (which study)

WHAT are your thoughts? Can we satisfactorily Parse this clue.

PRINCIPI APOSTOLORUM PETRO
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE BENEDICT XV
ON ST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN
TO THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS,
BISHOPS, AND OTHER ORDINARIES
IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE.


Pope Benedict XV, Benedict XVIVenerable Brothers,
Greetings and The Apostolic Benediction.
1. To Peter the Prince of the Apostles, the divine Founder of the Church allotted the gifts of inerrancy [1] in matters of faith and of union with God. This relationship is similar to that of a "Choir Director of the Choir of the Apostles."[2] He is the common teacher and rector [3] of all, so that he might feed the flock of Him who established His Church [4] on the authority of Peter himself and his successors. And on this mystical rock the foundation [6] of the entire ecclesiastical structure stands firm as on a hinge. From it rises the unity of Christian charity as well as our Christian faith.

point [4] stood out, as did the title of this tract.

Hi Imagcq, I posted a thread about the same clue, got lots of replies but still no clear parse sadly.

I saw this and thought, YES!!, finally and whilst I can see your thought pattern am sure there is something not quite right.

I see the definition as 'Study of the rocky' - Petrochemistry and 'personal relationship' fulfils the chemistry part but the rest is still eluding me.

Let us hope for more input and well done on your attempt, better than anything I came up with.

Posts crossed - if that is the case then the Times are indeed expecting a lot.

Just a thought; Maybe the "definition" is the "whole clue" (because of the ? at the end) . The setter is jokingly asking if petrochemistry is a rocky relationship between two popes, (successive because the latter could not succeed until the first had met with Peter). Hmmmm

Am I missing something here? The clue seems a "straightforward" cryptic clue.

Peter was the protopope. All succeeding popes stand in the place of Peter (tu es Petrus - you are Peter) and petro = signifying rock.

The relationship between successive popes = the chemistry between successive popes.

The study of things: grapho(logy), entomo(logy) etc

Peter is known as the Rock (upon which the Church is built)

Cryptically Petro Chemistry = PETROCHEMISTRY is a play on words (See Jazzy) fitting the clue.

Methinks the original poster has it almost spot-on (as does Jazzy)

In that case I must stand away from this and accept what better solvers than I have offered

Re my post:
More accurately I should have said:

"The setter is jokingly asking if petrochemistry is the study of a rocky relationship between two successive popes"
phew

Wonderful!

That was exactly my thinking, Jazzgirl. I'm not saying it's correct but I think it's the best explanation to date.