Spectator 2009 Saturday April 9th 2011

[mintyman99]

http://www.spectator....6846588/crossword.pdf

[Germy]

Many thanks, MintyMan -- a great help to those of us in the Antipodes!

[barrybutler]

Thanks Minty and welcome back!

[AHearer]

.. and a help to those of us closer to London too! Many thanks.

[cruciverbali]

Yes, thank you minty !

[Helveticus]

Thank you, MintyMan! This puzzle is a lovely tribute to someone who delighted us all.

[zita-green]

Thanks, mintyman

[kayakamina]

Thanks as always for the link mintyman.

I agree with Helveticus; a fun and enjoyable puzzle.

[mad max]

many thanks for link

[bellabee]

thanks for the link mintyman - the theme came as a complete surprise and i have now learnt a great deal more from my research here. i must now [belatedly] read more - hadn't realised what 'a fine 23' we have lost too [as i only knew the very familiar name]

[bellabee]

...i also agree with helveticus. fittingly, a very fine puzzle.

[ixion]

Thanks Minty - should be a good one judging by the size of the thread at crosswordsolver

[barrybutler]

Yes a great puzzle. I was slightly stumped with the feather-seller until a brainwave suggested I should think "French".

[TheBear69]

Seems to me that the 8th cell in the 1st row (i.e. the 1st letter of the 8-letter theme 'word') has two equally valid possibilities due to variant spellings of the same word in Chambers.