Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Hello all, I’ve got everything I need, but flummoxed on the murderer’s house (and hence the murderer too). There is a three letter abbreviation below the broken weapon (located symmetrically), but not sure… a nudge, please?
Many thanks

Silly me too! Where does the penny drop?

I am in exactly the same position. Am I just being dim? Nudge please!

Or does 'house' just mean 'location' and I've already got it. I'm gonna go with that

As to “house”, my interpretation was that all the potential suspects lived in the Close, represented by the perimeter of the grid and that they were all “at home” there.

So near and yet so far! I think I have the victim, weapon and murderer but annoyingly can't quite finish the NW corner.
The last suspect might help me please. 'Surrender in vain when disturbed'. No definition given but I have .I.E.E..

Sybil you need a fairly common four-letter word for 'surrender' inside an anagram of 'vain'.

PS I find ??? much easier to read than .... for the blanks.

Tell me I'm stupid but.......

I couldn't find any reference to this representing an actual novel or event so I took it to be open to any answer we could come up with.

I also could not see anything relevant under the anagram below the victim.

However, alongside the victim in the grid is a vertical entry that could represent two pieces of one of the weapon answers. It goes up to the only suspect who is followed by an S, which could be written as 's, ie. their house.

I therefore highlighted the entry alongside the victim and the suspect on the top row.

It will be interesting to see the answer in the i. I - confidently but maybe quite wrongly - went down via a “dismantled weapon” rather than up. “Pays yer money….” Happy holidays, anyway.