Tls Crossword 1287

[KathG]

Stuck on the last two clues in TLS Crossword 1287, and as luck will have it they intersect. 13a is Bennet's civil servant in a group touring Covent Garden briefly (7). I have P_O_ _ _K. 7d is Possibly Hornblower's eccentric character, as an adventurous polar explorer (7, 8). I have
C_P_ _ _ N/_A_T_R_S. The first word, given the apparent naval connection, could be Captain and if it is the 5th letter in 7a would be A. Any help much appreciated.

[KathG]

Sorry, I meant the 5th letter in 13a

[fiction-factory]

Bennet or Bennett?

[scorpiojo]

Bennett

(Mr) P R.O.H. ack

[Mamyalynne]

7 Captain Tartarus

[Mamyalynne]

You might hold back on accepting my answer, thought I had the parse but don't.

[highbury57]

My crossword says Bennet.

[Muriel11]

I thought Captain Hatteras

[Mamyalynne]

Of course, well done.

[KathG]

Thank you all. It certainly doesn't help when the setter misses a letter from the name of an author forming part of a clue - 13a certainly said Bennet, not Bennett as it should have been. I had never heard of Captain Hatteras and the Hornblower part of the clue doesn't parse well - true, he was a Captain at one point in his career but as the books cover his progress from Midshipman to Admiral it's not obvious. As for Hatteras, it does parse well enough - eccentric character = (mad) hatter and as - but as a whole name it is not going to be familiar unless you have read Verne's book or been to Hatteras Island in the US, and I've done neither. Badly done, Broteas.

[highbury57]

The crossword has been more erratic over the past year or so than I can ever remember. Too much emphasis on being - or trying to be - clever and too little on a literary crossword. This crossword is sadly not an isolated example.