Polymath

[jenniferd]

Help for friend in need please.
15a One of the five major types of white blood cells (11)
?P?E?O???S?

13a Robert a hero created by John Buchan(6)
H???A?

7d Chemical obtained from lichens(7)
O?C???? (possibly ORCHILL) If this is right the "I" is the 3rd letter of the Buchan hero.

[gen2]

13a Richard Hannay (in 39 steps)

[jenniferd]

gen2 It is definitely a Robert and not a Richard

[gen2]

15a ??

There are five types of white blood cell

neutrophils 40 - 75 %
eosinophils 5 %
basophils 0.5 %
lymphocytes 20 - 50 %
monocytes 1 - 5 %

None of these fit your letters.

[gen2]

7d could be Orcinol

(my dictionary spells Orchil with only one L)

[gen2]

. . . and that puts an N into the Buchan character so it rather looks as if it IS going to be Hannay after all. (Does the compiler make a habit of making errors like M M in the Telegraph?)

[jenniferd]

15a The p comes from lepidopterous (relating to moths and butterflys).
The e comes from hypermetropia (longsightedness)
The o comes from flesh wound (superficial injury)
The s comes from snow leopard (ano name for ounce)

The FT Polymath rarely has errors unlike the MM ones but does look as if there may be one now.

[gen2]

I have found 2 words that fits your letters but unfortunately have nothing to do with blood cells:

spheroplast n. A bacterial cell whose cell wall is absent or deficient, causing it to have a spherical form.

spherodise also fits the letters but has nothing to do with any type of cell. eg Spheroidise annealing (spheroidising): An annealing process that changes the geometric shape of cemented carbides.

[Kulatron]

15a I have gone with Hannah as the compiler must have confused actors Robert Donat, Robert Powell who played Richard Hannah in the film versions

7d Orcinol is defined as a dihydric phenol from lichens(latest Chambers dictionary)

I think the blood cell solution is probably like the silly Irish name for Heron Bay a few weeks back - solution printed not found on the web with the exact spelling. There are two medical terms that fit spheroPlast and spheroBlast
The spheroplast is the one I will go for as it be a type of one of the real types posted above.

[jenniferd]

Thanks to all for help. Have passed info on to friend and she is going with Hannay, Orcinol and spheroplast.

kulatron - it is Hannay not Hannah

[Kulatron]

Oops .. typing error - too late in the morning - my grammar was a bit faulty, just had one of those days.