factfinder Scotsman

[boomerang551]

10ac, Of or pertaining to ringworm. ???g?d. 21ac. A tree or shrub of warm climates which bears yellow or white flowers. have got acacia. 6d. A woody, evergreen Eurasian climbing plant. I???s. many thank in advance.

[filobeddoe]

10A could be fungal, you sure the d is right? And 6D is probably ivies.

[HowardKennitby]

These two are causing much discussion here. I have decided to pass on this week's entry, my brain is hurting too much.

Problem seems to be whether 7D is hierocracy or hagiogracy.

[shooty]

Agree with HK !!

[bert_h]

You must have 7d wrong. 10a is TINEID, 6d probably IVIES, 7d HIEROCRACY.

21a ACACIA fits with 7d and with 18d SACRISTAN.

[HowardKennitby]

Ivies is not the name of any plant that I can find. I would also query tineid as having anything to do with ringworm.

[bert_h]

Hi "HowardKennitby", IVIES is the plural of IVY which is an evergreen plant that you've surely heard of. This is supposing that the clue is slightly astray on its grammar. And our Chambers dictionary has TINEID further down the section with headword TINEA, which defines tinea (noun) as ringworm and tineid (adjective) as having to do with it. You can query Chambers if you wish, but I wouldn't.

[HowardKennitby]

Bert

I always assume that the setter uses the correct grammar which is why I don't like IVIES.

My reading of my Chambers(10th) is that TINEID applies to the moth(genus Tinea) and that there is very little to suggest it can also apply to ringworm.

[bert_h]

Okay HowardKennitby, we'll find out this Saturday.

[bert_h]

There we go, then, HowardKennitby - today's answers are IVIES and TINEID after all.

I agree that they're substandard - a plural answer for a singular clue, and the compiler not realising that although TINEA meant two things, TINEID only applied to one of them.