Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Hi, Rusty!
I well remember my girls going off to school in the early mornings with red noses (as you say!) and also blue knees from the cold - because they insisted on turning up their skirts at the waist when they reached the end the road out of my sight!.... only, of course, to have to turn them down again when they got to school!
What they would suffer for "street cred"!
What a shame that you missed seeing Jess....I haven't watched the programme yet.
This morning is proving to be chaotic ...doorbell and phone constantly ringing!
I've so far achieved very little!
The later posts yesterday evening and the first this morning went out without Captcha pictures....
Is this down to good luck ?
Or Ash's good management?
I wonder what will happen with this......

Hello, Elle!
Raining now!
Good news about your Captcha, Elle!
Maybe Ash did tweak something?
Who knows!
Hope it continues.
I still have them on Brave, but they are a minor niggle, for me, at least.
I have finished my puzzle...and it was tough!
One or two pars still elusive, and I think that's due to my lack of knowledge.

Hi, Rusty!
I think the jury is still out over Captcha.....
I do not know if I am simply "in remission", or if Ash has indeed achieved a miracle!
I have asked Norah.....
Meanwhile , here's hoping!
Wow, this crossword is a stinker!
I think I have parses for those I have done.....but still some way to go yet.
Clue 26a, 6d, 18d, and 23d are definitely beyond me...I cannot come up with any answers for them?
And I have not managed to parse "sensor" in 20a?
It must be time for a caffeine boost?

Only a tick needed!!!

Hello, Elle!
A "stinker", indeed!
One of the Championship puzzles.
20, "Sensor",
Now, this is my stab at the parse!
"Sensor" is a "detective gadget".
"s" for "succeeded" inside the Spanish word "senor".
I think Cid could possibly be senor.
There was an "El Cid" but who that was I have no idea!
26a, is "baize" sounds like "bays/howls"
The spider is a snooker implement and the snooker table is covered in baize cloth.
6d, is "redaction"/censorship, the October Revolution could be Red Action?
18d, "I'm 1 table"/"imitable", there could be a "nest of tables", I think. I think they come in threes?
23d, anagram, "anime" is a kind of film.
It was certainly a tough puzzle today, Elle.
You have done well!

Hello, Elle.
I meant to say I have "poisson" for 16a, but not a Scooby who or what the definition is.

Hi, Rusty!
Yes, I had got "sensor" = "detective gadget" as definition, but could see no further than that.
I did not think of El Cid as being a "senor"........
El Cid - I cannot remember his real name; I think the term means "The Lord" - was a Spanish military leader from way back. 11th century?
I would never have got "baize " for 26a!
I had guessed that 23d was an anagram of "me in a" meaning film - but couldn't produce a suitable word!
However, on the plus side, I can help you with 16a: poisson = man responsible for distribution (def)
poison - toxin
s - middle of salisbury
Simeon Poisson was a French statistician who was responsible for some distribution theory or other!

Hello, Elle!
I have no idea about El Cid.
But, do you think the CID bit has to to with "senor", or is it to do with the police?
I'll go with senor/Cid!
I have not come across Simeon Poisson before.
I think "poisson" is French for fish?
One of my cycling favourites retired today.
Dani King. She had a good career.
World and Olympic champion etc.
....and one of Trotty's bridesmaids!

Hi, Rusty!
I agree with you; I think it just means that El Cid is a senor!
Yes le poisson is fish.
But has nothing to do with the parsing of the clue!
You have mentioned Dani King before....and wasn't Joanna Shand also one of Laura's bridesmaids?
My elder daughter rang this morning to tell me she had ordered presents for the boys - from us - and the parcels would be arriving here today!
So I have been waiting in for them...
They have finally arrived ...but it is too dark to go out by this time.
The dog has had to make do with a few rounds of the garden!

I remember seeing the flim El Cid when I was quite young - Charlton Heston, as I recall.

I only really remember the last scene. He was so feared as a war leader that they propped his dead body on his horse so it would appear that he was still in charge!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid_(film)