Herald Xmas

[jemimae]

Still stumped with 32 Across (11)

S ? R ? A ? F ? ? ? ?

Big Dave can you help?

[BigDave44]

Believe it or not, I don't get the Herald!! If you can give the clue as well, might be able to help.
Dave

[BigDave44]

It's not (Noel) Streatfield, author of Ballet Shoes by any chance ? That's a real punt in the dark !!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Streatfield

[Harry-Wragg]

Good morning Dave - on behalf of jemimae I would like to explain this crossword to you - it starts with informing you that "All clues marked * share a seasonal link, quite literally, which you'll need to crack. The remainder are simply cryptic". The clues marked with the * have no definition and so far I haven't been able to ascertain the link but here's what I have so far with the undefined clues - this should give you something to think about - if you can be bothered!! - the prize is whisky by the way - means a lot to us up here!!

1 (3,5) ??? ???S?
2 (9) ???L?????
3 (7) T??????
4 (11) S?R?A??????
5 (3) ???
6 (8) ?I?L?I??
7 (4,5) ???? ??A??
8 (6) ?O????
9 (5,2) ?I??? ??
10 (7) ??????S
11 (5) ?????
12 (9) H???????L
13 (7) ??????N
14 (4,4) ???? ????
15 (6) ?????R

I thought of Fielding for no 6 but that's as far as I have got.

jemimae - please excuse my intrusion, especially since I don't have the link to the crossword yet, but you could not have asked for better advice than from Big Dave!

[BigDave44]

Thanks Harry - that's a rather longer answer than I expected !!!

Will print out and have a look.

Bye for now. Dave

[BigDave44]

P.S. I'm still working my way through a beautiful bottle of 10-year old Talisker that my son bought me for Christmas !!!
I have actually been to the distillery - what a beautiful place.

[BigDave44]

Again, it's a long shot, but there is a David Fielding who is a ballet choreographer,
http://www.oliverhindle.com/david/biog.html
and Noel Streatfield wrote ballet shoes.

Could 1a be Red Shoes, a film about ballet .... do you see where I'm going ???

[jemimae]

Thanks Dave and Harry, I'm thinking the link is Names with a Christmas link ( with your help Dave) Noel Streatfield -- Noel Gallagher and Noel Coward so far. I'll keep trying

[Harry-Wragg]

Dave - yes I see what you mean but the 's' in No 1 comes from a cryptic clue 'Pinch a bit' which is 'snaffle' - put the Talisker away and concentrate!!

[Harry-Wragg]

Good morning jemimae - I haven't got the answers to all the cryptic clues yet - any additional letters to the *link clues would be a help if you have them.

[jemimae]

Harry
1 down Tailoring
2 down Edwardian

I think 21 down is Paraffin

[Harry-Wragg]

jemimae - your answers to 1d and 2d look good - as does 21d - what do you have for 11a Hale? Steve? No longer (5) I?W??

Dave - No 1 is now T?E ???S?

[jemimae]

Bit macabre, but I think it is Irwin

[Xman]

The link is NOEL and anagrams of it (LEON, LENO, LONE).
So 1A is THE FIRST (NOEL), 32A is (NOEL) STREATFEILD, 43A is (NOEL) FIELDING and 30A is (LEON) TROTSKY.

[jemimae]

Thanks XMan