Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Thanks, Norah, Bobbycollins et al...
I feel we're having a stormy few weeks on the Forum - a slight shame as it is usually an orderly, polite, helpful place!

In the recent discussion (on last week's Listener thread, I think), the post that most resonated with me was the one from Tatters. Here's part of it...

'I can't get remotely stressed about someone giving 'too much' help on a Crossword Help Forum. Some need a gentle nudge, while others need a full answer - and all shades in between...'

Another point is that 'May Contain Answers' doesn't mean - and hasn't led to - vast numbers of answers being given away on a regular basis. One recent puzzle had three answers given (all by the same person) and another had only two. And I think it was that very same week that a member said that very few, if any answers, were given.

FWIW I agree with Gitto and Bobby, though I’d word it as something like “Hints only, no direct spoilers please.” I’m sure that can be improved on.

It’s inevitable that there will be occasional lapses, but we don’t want to put off newcomers and a polite word should suffice if it happens. Persistent offenders, on the other hand, should be made to solve a Sabre-type puzzle with all answers unclued, jumbled and coded in Playfair.

That made me lol Loge 😂 Not least because I despairingly tried to decode Sabre’s ‘Two Soups’ with Playfair. I had to seek out the aforementioned private help/therapy from a kind forum contributor.

The last thing we want on here is for this L thread to become like the AB one with people too scared to ask for fear of "comments". Let it continue how it is.......don't come on here if it offends

I'm with you on that score, bunty.

Well, I could use a few hints (not answers!)

I am stuck with three left, 1, 5, and 37. I know I'm going to hate myself on 37, but I just can't see it. I thought I had 5, but it doesn't quite work. I haven't a clue for 1.

Mprs, 37 is a Latin phrase. Copper metal, and the heckler could be in a theatre.
1. Def. is 'separate', as when a plant leaf falls. Lincoln is from your history.

Hi mathprof,

For 1, the answer is an obscure word meaning “separate” as a verb. The wordplay is the three-letter shortening of the first name of President Lincoln, round a three-letter short form of a member of the family. The entry is one of the four running outwards.

In 5, the answer is an adjective meaning “current” and the entry is the usual abbreviation for “new” and the chess abbreviation for “knight” inside an old Scottish word meaning “to rule”.

The answer to 37 is the usual Latin expression meaning “who benefits”. The wordplay is the chemical symbol for copper, plus “I” plus a three-letter word that some people in England did recently when the England football team “took the knee”.

I've just read the previous comments re hints/help on this site. I think the help given here is encouraging and at the right level ( providing that answers & themes are not divulged). My thanks to all who contribute. Can someone please explain the word play for radial 23, which has me baffled. Really frustrating, when the rest of the grid filled in quite easily. Thanks.

Hi cass. For radial 23, first two words are def. Decays is an anagram indicator. Nothing is the usual within the anagram