Spectator 2546

[Tilly2]

43 across and 1 across please.

[JJ109]

I haven't got a clue!

[dannyk13]

Tilly, the on-call psychic is having his lunch, can you call back later.

[Tilly2]

There are no clues,I'm afraid.

See here:-
43 (two words) created 1A
(four words) and 3 10 14
(seven words). The latter
inspired 17 30, whose
work introduced the
egregious 18. Elsewhere,
ignore one accent.

[Tilly2]

Both 1A and 43A have 14 spaces.

[Neveracrossword]

Tilly2, do you really want just to be told the theme?* The first few Down clues are relatively straightforward and should give you quite a few of the letters for 1 Across.
*Sorry if that sounds a bit direct, cheeky - it's just because I'm not used to someone wanting so much (and having so little/nothing!).

[Tilly2]

NACW.
1a E?????C????E??.

43a N??????P??????

I have done some!
I know I'm being cheeky and I don't like cheating.

Can you give me a bit of a clue?

[roslyn251254]

Neveracrossword is right.... you only need a few down answers to be able to get 1a by putting your letters in the universal crossword solver...doesn't help that the title is foreign ...but it is there.

[roslyn251254]

Tilly ...your letters are correct and if you use the universal crossword solver there are only a few 4 word answers that come out....

[Tilly2]

That's helpful Roslyn. I have never used the universal crossword solver. I'll give it a go. Thank you.

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, roslyn251254.

And thanks, Tilly. It really isn't as hard, scary as it looks - and definitely doable if you use a wordwizard thing!

[Tilly2]

That's my problem, NACW. I don't use word finder thingies.
Anyway, thank you both. I'll crack on. :-)

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Tilly2. I didn't use a WordWizard thing, I spotted a couple of possible words in the top row. The entry is something I'd heard of before. The bottom row had to wait until much later.

[Matakari]

Greetings, NACW and Roslyn251254, I am quite excited to announce that I cracked Fieldfare's "Picture book" very early in the game and was very surprised to complete the puzzle in record time yesterday! Interesting and fulfilling, indeed! Thanks for giving me the confidence needed!

[Neveracrossword]

Matakari, great to hear such thrilling news! Now that you have had a couple of successes, I think you might begin to trust yourself a bit more.

[novalis]

For me the beauty of this was looking at not just the thematic works of 43 across but also at some of his other work. NACW, I was the opposite. I had quite a few letters in 43 across and then used Universal Crossword Solver. Tilly2, that particular site is very user-friendly for both answers and anagrams. It is well worth exploring/experimenting with.

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Novalis - interesting stuff! I think I must have encountered the answer to 1 A before in Crosswordland - though goodness knows where or when! The odd start and the odd end to the entry sent me on my way.

[Tilly2]

I'm getting there...slowly. :-)

[Neveracrossword]

Tilly2, thanks for the update. I thought it was an excellent puzzle, it all came together very nicely.

[Matakari]

Many thanks again, NACW, very early in the game I got 1A and them Google came to the rescue for the rest of the theme! Great detective work, indeed!

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Matakari. I expect it was the most satisfying puzzle you've done for a while (and certainly tougher than the recent Chalicea or Guardian Genius).