Speccie 2578

[pomona]

11a Smart monarch nailing the ceremony (6) N??T?R neater?

2d Woman,old, charged with energy ??E?E .....middle E if nEater is correct ?

5d Dated fashion of French fan (not English version) (6) EN?A?T

[FreyaBee]

Thank you tedsgran for your hints.
Lancastrianoik, yes, that matches with my answer.
Finally finished now

[johnpiper]

I am sorry but i dont understand the parsing of 11AC
could someone please explain?

I am also at a loss to see what 20D is i can see that the first 4 letters are a famous spa city but then why are the last 5 what they are?

[bobbinwales]

can you tell us the clue for 20d??
Neveracrossword explained NIPTER...can see the ER if its an old clue although am not convinced about how the NIP works or the T for 'the'

[Neveracrossword]

In 11 A, the nip and smart are synonyms, think of sting, hurt and so on. The T for The is northern English usage, and is defined in Chambers. People in Coronation Street used to pop to 't' shops'. It features in crosswords fairly often.

[bobbinwales]

ok, ta, coun't find nip and smart as synonyms on my usual sites.
I never thought of 't as the in Yorkshire accent.

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Bobbinwales. Under '(to) nip' in Chambers is '(to) smart', so I thought nothing of it.

[Neveracrossword]

Bobbinwales, here's 20 A.
Spa no-good dumping us where rubber ducks swim (9) Bathwater.

Bath, spa and Waster, no-good. 'Dumping us' = drop the S, short for 'us' (confirmed in Chambers).

[johnpiper]

Thanks for the clarification. Pabulum has a way with him/her!
Does the theme word begin with W i think it begins with R?

[Neveracrossword]

Glad I could help, johnpiper. For the theme, your second option is correct.

[johnpiper]

Thanks NACW For 1 d i have ??n?hamism
and i can only think of Benthamism but dont udnerstand the 200?
What am i missing?

[Neveracrossword]

John, H= 200, and it's in Chambers. (I've consulted that book umpteen times this evening!).

[bobbinwales]

I never seen h as 200, thought it might be hecto as in 100
Maybe I need to geta chambers Have you got a link to this h=200 online please neveracrossword.

[johnpiper]

Well i never.! Thx

[Neveracrossword]

Bobbinwales, I find I manage very well with the book versions of dictionaries. I can't suggest a link, sorry.

[bobbinwales]

apparently 'h' was once the roman numeral for 200.... we learnt roman numerals at school and I use to be quite good at reading them but never seen an h.
You learn something every day (but will probably forget it by next week)

[Neveracrossword]

Bobbin... the H, symbol, is a medieval Roman numeral- that's what Chambers says.

[jazzgirl]

I managed to finish a short while back after a few breaks and a lot of searching in Chambers. Regarding the H = 200 I have a link which I have often consulted on Roman numerals used in cryptic
https://www.highlightpress.com.au/roman-numerals.html