Guardian 28,555 / Brendan

106 comments on “Guardian 28,555 / Brendan”

1. I really enjoyed solving this crossword – I spotted the presence of so many animals fairly early on in the solve. My particular favourite, out of quite a long list, is 8d

   Thanks to Brendan for the fun and Eileen for the blog

2. I’m afraid I didn’t know DASSIE, or quite understand how the BOX in MITRE BOX worked exactly. But enjoyed the rest of the ANIMAL KINGDOM this morning….

3. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crossword before where every single answer has a theme word included (apart from the theme at 8d). Wow!

4. I’d met Rock Hyraxes in the pages of Gerald Durrell, and met them again as DASSIES on a holiday to South Africa, and I just about remembered that the improbably named ALEWIFE was a fish. What a lovely surprise for a Monday morning to get this beauty from Brendan.

5. 12a REBOX = sounds like plural of REEBOK?

   Brendan1060 on the Guardian site suggest APES has some further significance, but it eludes me; anyone? “here is a specific reason for not defining 15 differently, to divulge which would be a spoiler”

   Thanks Brendan and Eileen

6. Impressive!

7. Dave Ellison @5 – I had the same thought (and even looked it up!).

8. Initially I wasn’t keen on Dandelions thinking that’s not terribly cryptic, but overall very enjoyable and to have every solution be, contain or both an animal was extremely clever.

   Thanks Brendan and Eileen.

9. Eileen – thanks for the blog as ever: just to point out that the anagrist in 13 is WHY SLAP IS – you missed out IS.

10. Thanks, Spooner’s catflat – it was correct in the draft!

11. My word, what an achievement! Quite astonishing.

    One eyebrow raised at STARLING being described as a singer but that’s a very trivial quibble.

    I imagine that with the modern chop saw, the mitre box has been confined to history but I rather hope there are still traditional craftsmen out there who use them.

    Splendid stuff after yesterday’s disastrous Everyman.

    Many thanks both.

12. Great effort to have a reference to the theme in every answer, ? except 12a as noted by posters above. I don’t know the significance of Brendan’s comment about APES quoted by Dave Ellison @5, but doubtless we’ll be enlightened.

    Learnt about DANDELIONS and telling the time as a bonus.

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen

13. Brilliant. Thanks Brendan and Eileen.

14. Well done Dave Ellison @5 for your REBOX suggestion. Like Eileen, I was pleasantly surprised to see Brendan again and as usual, he delivered a delightful puzzle. The theme was a given but how clever. DASSIE was new and I had no problem with a couple of ASSES, so to speak.

    Ta Brendan & Eileen

15. Thanks Eileen especially for pointing out the EFT. Dave Ellison@5 good thinking on REBOX and I have no idea what is signified by that definition either so will check back later to see what ensues.
    I found some of this quite tough, not helped by overcomplicating things eg looking for a RD or ST to go into STARLING and convincing myself that the word for “Classify” had to be greek/latin starting with PH – (mouldy old) doh!
    Lots of fun and top marks to STARLING – maybe not many people associate them with song but the one that used to visit our roof terrace was quite tuneful, although I went off it when it ate all the tarragon. Thanks Brendan!

16. 12a has an OX in it, if REBOX isn’t right!

17. Apparently there is a marine mitre snail, so-called because the shell resembles the bishop’s mitre. So every clue has an animal. Of course, I missed this completely while doing the crossword.

18. Gazzh @15: You’ve made rethink my comment @11 re STARLINGs. We used to have one who had learned a perfect imitation of the 60s trimphone. While we were out in the garden, the damned bird would trot out his masterpiece and it was so accurate that we fell for it every time and would slavishly traipse inside with muddy boots to answer the phone!

19. A blast from Brendan, fun, although today the little grey pathways were like rusty old rail lines, had to have a nap before getting the last few. As for gladys @4, vaguely remembered alewife, ditto eft, but dassie was a dnk. And spent a minute thinking Where’s the animal in Oman … talk about slow! All part of the fun, ta BNE.

20. I don’t understand the queries about 12ac. OX is in there

    – and, Gazzh, re the definition: I’ve given links to explain both halves.

    I queried ‘singer’ for STARLING, too, but Collins has it as ‘any gregarious passerine songbird of an Old World family’, esp the common starling’.

21. Shirl @16 – I’m sorry, I missed yours.

22. Beautiful start to the week. He’s good, isn’t he?

    The STARLING is classified in the suborder of oscines within the Passeriformes, so is technically a songbird, though not especially melodious.

    My favourite was PIGEONHOLE for its clever surface to cover an unusual anagram.

    Many thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

23. Sorry, Shirl and Eileen – my post has crossed with yours.

24. An amazing setter to be sure to be sure!

25. Shirl@16 I thought I went so carefully through everything in MITRE BOX, but missed OX! I am sure you are right.

26. A nice change for a Monday and nothing to complain about. I assume Brendan must have known he was setting for the start of the week: this was fairly approachable and he can certainly produce tougher. But no complaints about Monday fare in the blog so far which is refreshing. I’m another who enjoyed STARLING and I also had big ticks and a childish grin when solving GOATEE and TIGRESS.

    This is also another one of those days when I’d strongly commend the offering in the Independent for those who have time for a second (third for Quiptic lovers).

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen

27. This was enormous fun. Clever, inventive, and just the right amount of intellectual effort for a sluggish monday morning.
    (Extricating curious dassies from inside my rucksack was a highlight of visiting Table Mountain…)
    Thank you Brendan and Eileen

28. Shirl@16 yet again I have missed the blindingly obvious, thank you. [Why do I always think that Ox should end with an E? Probably because of Oxen.]
    Eileen my definition comment was re Dave Ellison’s post@5 that Brendan on the Grauniad site had commented somewhat cryptically on the definition of APES, sorry that wasn’t clear. Re mitre box, I guessed mitre but had to cheat/google “saw mitre” to make sense of the clue which gave me the box part and then i got the fanciful side (I couldn’t remember if the mitre was the hat or the staff!).

29. Hi Gazzh @28 – it was clear: I’m sorry I just didn’t read it properly.
    I suspect Brendan means he couldn’t define apes as monkeys, so had to use the rather hackneyed ‘copies’.

    (The staff is a crosier/crozier 😉 )

30. Had to comment on this superior crossword and blog. Thank you Brendan and Eileen. What a feat to have an animal in every answer, especially as the surfaces were so smooth and meaningful and the GK level was not out of the ordinary. Favourites were DANDELION, SKID and TSETSE. Fabulous!!

31. Lovely clever stuff – thanks Brendan & Eileen.
    Took me ages to see OX and RAM (you could say I was stogged!), but now I’m more awake I can see LING & ASP hiding too.

32. Only noticed the theme when I finished, and then saw how many themed words appeared in the puzzle.

    Favourites: THEFTS, LAMBADA.

    New for me: CATKINS, MITRE BOX, DASSIE, ALEWIFE.

    Thanks, both.

33. This is the sort of crossword that proves that the difficulty of a puzzle has nothing to do with how rewarding it is to complete it. Loads of this (appropriately) flew in.

    Enjoyed the chat above about STARLINGs – they definitely can sing, but they can also click, buzz, whine and (when doing all of the above at once) irritate. They can also mimic other birds – apparently the easiest way to know some sites contain certain species is to listen to starlings repeating snippets of their calls…

34. Thank you Eileen for your customarily thoughtful blog, and in particular for the (O)MAN link to the Science Focus article on ‘Are humans animals?’ That article drew my attention to the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, which is well worth a read [right to the end of the footnote, for the lovely mental picture of world-leading neuroscientists hobnobbing with Stephen Hawking (in the Balfour Room of the Hotel du Vin in Trumpington Street, which has ”a genuine open fireplace and a couple of pillars to waltz around”).]

    My (layperson’s) guess is that these questions are going to get ever more prominent, and troubling, for future generations of humans grappling with the ethics of how we treat our fellow animals.

    Many thanks also to Brendan for another super puzzle.

    [Eileen @29 – that’s how I read Brendan’s comment on APES too. Incidentally, for those who haven’t seen it, take a look at the Guardian thread for a Brendan masterclass on how to deal courteously but effectively with criticism – see exchange of comments between midnight and 2 am UK time.]

35. Here’s today’s earworm:

36. essexboy @34 – I agree with you.
    Brendan (Brian Greer) has shown similarly effective restraint and courtesy recently on this site, too.

37. I’ve been wondering about the Brendan “spoiler” comment re APES — Eileen @29 speculates it’s because he couldn’t use “monkeys” as the definition — that made sense when I read it, assuming that the thematically he wanted to restrict animals to the answers. But he defines ALEWIFE literally as a “fish” in 19d. So perhaps there’s another explanation?

38. [gladys @35 – thanks for the earworm, but I thought it was going to be ‘You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals…’ 😉 ]

39. He couldn’t use “monkeys” as the definition because it’s inaccurate. Maybe it’s something to do with the man in OMAN also being an ape (and not a monkey).

40. ILAN CARON @37 you’re quite right re ALEWIFE / fish – I was thinking of the fairly frequent quibbles here when apes are defined as monkeys see here

41. Sorry, gladys – yet another cross!

42. There’s a second ASS if you read down from the A in OMAN!

    Our cup runneth over 🙂

    Really enjoyed this despite completely missing the theme. Mostly simple but not simplistic with a few chewier ones to ice the cake. That enough mixed metaphors for today

43. … another ANIMAL* crouching under CALF HISTOGRAM (fwiw)

44. Thanks, Eileen (happy to see you blogging, and I’ll tell you sometime about my memories of Princess Gardens), and everyone (I learn a lot). About APES. Normally I tend to define it as “primates” with the rest of the clue having a churchy surface, such as the obvious anagram. In this kind of puzzle, I try to keep the clue unrelated to the theme, impossible for such as DASSIE. If every themed answer has an unthemed clue, I think of that as a “ghost theme”. Hope that makes sense.

45. I can’t understand all this fretting about Brendan’s definition for APES. ‘Copies’ fits perfectly with ‘records’ to give a beautifully smooth surface. What’s the problem?

46. I crossed with your comment Brendan! Thanks for dropping by.

47. As others have said, a great crossword again from Brendan, so many thanks to him, to Eileen for an equally excellent blog and to essexboy for the link to the other comments forum for Brendan1060’s expert handling of a potentially hostile comment.

    Apparently there was a theme 🙂 , though as usual it didn’t affect my solving or my appreciation of the puzzle.

    On checking ALEWIFE in my Chambers, I was a little surprised to find it listed under “ale” despite the stated suspicion that the word for the fish has a different derivation to the word for a female innkeeper. I didn’t need to reach for my dictionary to look up DASSIE before writing the solution in the grid as the word play was so clear.

    I enjoyed the STARLING anecdotes, especially the phone and the muddy boots!

48. Missed the theme but that was a wonderful crossword, a little more difficult that the ‘usual’ Monday but not so much that I start throwing things at the PC… Actually, I do that anyway.

    Thanks Brendan and Eileen!

49. We are notoriously bad at spotting themes, but to miss one which covers every single clue , right up until we’d completed it and read the blog, is a new low. An excellent crossword even without it!

50. Great fun, and such a pleasant surprise as Eileen has said.

    Not too difficult but just enough to keep us on our toes. I too had never heard of a DASSIE but so obviously clued it was fair.

    Re Brendan’s comments elsewhere (which I haven’t seen), is the mystery at 15a to do with bees? Apis is the Latin for a bee, and the plural (dredging up schoolboy Latin) is apes I think.

    Does that sound right Dave Ellison @5?

    Thanks to Brendan and Eileen as ever.

51. Another tour de force from Brendan. I too have fond memories of dassies.

52. Thanks Brendan (both for the puzzle and for contributing here) and Eileen. Took a while to get going, but that’s just me – perhaps I was just expecting it to be more complicated because of the byline… DASSIE was a DNK, but as you rightly say, Eileen, fairly clued. Aside from that, I got slightly hung up on 8d (got the KING reference, but was looking for more complex wordplay in the rest of the clue and still feel like I might be missing something); and 22a, where the clue seems to imply [what driver wants] being inserted into [part of India], which held me up for a moment. Did no one else see it that way? Anyway, lots of great clues here, all good fun.

    William @11 – I have two mitre boxes in the toolkit, both inherited from my late father-in-law. Very useful, especially for cutting skirting boards!

53. Lovely workout. As with others failed to spot the theme until we finished, despite help from @Candyman54 still can’t see the animal in 5d
    Thx to Brendan for the great puzzle and for jumping in.
    As ever always happy with Eileen’s blog.

54. I enjoyed this quite a bit, but in solving too quickly I missed just how thorough the theme was. Brilliant!

    My memories of ALEWIFE date from my years in Boston–the terminus of the Red Line T was/is Alewife Station in Cambridge, named after the nearby Alewife Brook, which is of course named after the fish. So if you wanted to get from downtown Boston to Harvard, you needed an Alewife train. I think this may be the only reason anyone has heard of an alewife.

    William @11: my brother-in-law somehow managed to slice up his hand a couple weeks ago with a mitre saw, so they’re definitely still in use. [Part of me is sorry for him, and the rest of me is thinking, but that’s what the mitre box is for, you moron!]

55. Malkin. Chambers has, among other definitions, “a cat (dialect)” and “a hare (Scot)”. Thanks to Eileen and Brendan.

56. Gervase@45: somebody on the Guardian comments accused apes=copies of being an old chestnut of a definition, so Brendan tried to explain why he used that instead of something less chestnutty.

57. A lot of comments since I popped out for a while!

    Many thanks, Brendan, for popping in – always appreciated.

    widderspell @52 – I read GOA in 22ac as being adjectival (cf London bus or Mr Penney’s Alewife train @54).

    ShropshireLass @53 – the animal in 5dn is EFT, as explained in the blog.

    Many thanks for all the anecdotes – mostly on-topic! – and extra details.

58. Hi hapdaniel @55

    I’ve just managed to decipher your comment – well spotted! I realise now I knew Graymalkin from ‘Macbeth’.

59. ShropshireLass@53: As Eileen says in her blog, the animal in 5d THEFTS is an “eft“.

    Most enjoyable, with great surfaces throughout. Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

60. Sorry Eileen@57, we crossed re “eft”. (You’ve managed to discern something from hapdaniel@55 which I can’t see… (nothing unusual there).)

61. Alphalpha – MALKIN is contained in ANIMAL KINGDOM.

62. Thanks for the blog , are humans animals ? has cropped up. There are three kingdoms for multi-cellular life and two ( some think three ) for simpler forms such as bacteria.
    So we are in Animalia or Plantae or Fungi, take your pick, but please do not imagine we are somehow outside these kingdoms of life.

63. I saw the comment on the Guardian about the clue for apes early this morning, and I wondered if Brendan wanted to avoid any mention of animals I the clues. I (as it turns out incorrectly) decided against this as fly, fish and foxy are all there. So I checked the chambers app to see any usage I was unaware of…

    Imagine my surprise to see the first entry under APE was MONKEY.

    Anyone with a print copy care to check too?

64. Lovely puzzle, and a real achievement. Thanks S + B.

    One of my favourite starling recordings, is in this video of starlings who’d passed the sound of a two-stroke engine down through the generations. (I could only find a Facebook link, so it may be inaccessible without an account – if so apologies.)

65. Blah @63 – same in the print copy.

66. Same in my Chambers 93 Blah

67. MarkN @54

    Thanks for that – fascinating! [I got it without an account.]

68. Sorry Eileen, very slow typing. I try not to complain about science words in dictionaries, everyday use of language does not need to conform to strict science definitions most of the time.

69. [Blah @63; we have had this discussion before. The rationale was that, for example, Barbary apes are in fact monkeys. So, in some common usage ape = monkey, although they are of course different species. And from Wiki: Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, a grouping known as paraphyletic; however in the broader sense based on cladistics, apes (Hominoidea) are also included, making the terms monkeys and simians synonyms in regard of their scope.]

    Back to the crossword – a triumph in setting.

    Thanks to Brendan, and for popping in, and to Eileen for an informative blog.

70. An enjoyable crossword. Thank you Brendan and Eileen.

    However…
    I missed the theme completely – thankfully. I deliberately don’t look for them. It’s beginning to seem that every crossword has to have one. Yes, I know it’s very clever and more fun for the setter, but I am not fond of them.
    Once you spot a familiar theme the clues become less important. If the theme is unfamiliar, you can’t always be sure you’ve solved correctly. We’re not all familiar with the same things, and who wants to keep Googling? Well, not me anyway.

    What I like is original clueing, smooth and witty surfaces, and something to stretch the brain. I’ll shut up now.

71. [Thanks Robi@69, I must have missed the previous (I assume controversial?) discussion on the topic. My surprise was at setters’ apparent unwillingness to use monkey if Chambers says its OK. Also wouldn’t monkey (with) make a lovely anagrind?]

72. Having praised this crossword to the hilt in my earlier comment I have to say that in general I agree with your comments Crossbar @ 70. Themed puzzles should, in my opinion, be the exception rather than the rule, but as you say nowadays every crossword seems to have to have one. I found this theme acceptable since very little obscure GK was necessary to complete the puzzle and one did marvel at the ingenuity of fitting in an animal for every clue. But, I agree with your last paragraph completely and wish all setters would heed your words!

73. Thank you SPanza @72. I thought I might be on my own in this. 🙂

74. Eileen @57 – Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. I’m just slow on the uptake today.

75. Crossbar @70 I totally agree. Recently we had a Brummie puzzle, no theme, pangram, Nina etc just great clues, a rare treat

76. I enjoy the extra constraint of a theme when setting. I try to make each puzzle drinkable independently of any theme or structural constraint. It’s an ego thing, putting the me in theme.

77. Super to (nearly) complete a Brendan puzzle which came as a nice surprise.
    I was confused by 10a, thanks for the explanation, it’s still a bit of a mystery though.
    I didn’t understand MITRE BOX, but I suppose they have to be kept in something.
    Lots of animals that even I could work out was a theme.
    Thanks both.
    RIP the Great Jimmy Greaves

78. Crossbar, SPanza and anyone still reading: Brendan @44 said this: …every themed answer has an unthemed clue, I think of that as a “ghost theme”

    This works for me, because if I don’t spot the theme, I don’t miss out. Was there anyone working on this crossword who was helped by the fact that animals (of one sort or another) featured in the answers? It’s a ghost theme, that is recognised retrospectively. (Actually, that’s most themes, as far as I’m concerned. 🙂 ) But there’s an additional level of pleasure to be got from identifying the animals hidden in the grid (including as ninas), if you want to look for them.

79. Crossbar@70, the beauty of Brendan’s themed puzzles is that they are always solvable (soluble?) without reference to the theme. Like you, I didn’t spot the theme. In fact, as I worked through it I was thinking that Brendan had constructed a very nice puzzle well tuned to the Monday slot, and perhaps that’s why there was no theme. Coming to this site and learning about the theme meant that I could get extra pleasure from the puzzle after the fact.

    My favourite clue was 5d THEFTS. Brendan’s clue, accusing the FT of multiple plagiarisms, conjures up a delightful image of a newspaper suing a reader (in this case a setter) for defamation.

    Thanks Brendan for another gem, and Eileen for your typically exemplary blog.

80. I’m a slow typist and missed Brendan’s comment@76 and especially sheffield hatter’s@78, with which I strongly agree. thanks for explaining my view better than I did.

    Please keep them coming, Brendan.

81. Thanks to Brendan and Eileen.
    Lovely crossword.
    My real name is Starling, so I enjoyed the comments above. They are truly wonderful mimics, and also produce the most extraordinary murmurations. I have to add though, with apologies for being anthropomorphic, that they do squabble on the bird feeders!

82. Eileen@61: I wish I had your perceptive perspective – not in a geological period would I have spotted “malkin” in ANIMAL KINGDOM. We have to assume that Brendan intended it, in which case it moves the puzzle to yet another level of cleverness.

    sheffield hatter@78: I hope I won’t be spotted saying this (or Brendan will think I have him in the cross-hairs (which I don’t – up there among the favs)) but I don’t get what he’s saying about themed/unthemed: clues abound (-ish) in penguins, guinea pigs, foxen (why not?) which are surely themed……

    I’m being unusually thick, even for me, probably. (That’s usually it). But I did enjoy @76: “putting the me in theme” – thigh-slapper.

83. HYD I took MITRE BOX to be a hat box, the bishop could keep their Mitre (hat) in the wardrobe.
    It is also an old fashioned tool for cutting mitre joints in wood.

84. Sorry HYD I am talking nonsense yet again, try again.
    When a dandelion head goes to seed, children like to blow them. They say 1 o’clock , 2 o’clock …..etc until all the seeds have gone. This tells them the time but I do not think it has been scientifically proven.

85. Thanks Roz, I vaguely recollect the dandelion routine, though at the time I was probably far more interested in football and girls at that age (in that order).

86. Brendan @76 Thanks for giving us your view. Does having a theme make it easier or more difficult for you? I sort of thought that having no theme might be a case of “too much choice”.
    Btw I did enjoy your puzzle.

    Sheffield hatter @78 I can’t say if knowing the theme would have helped me with the solutions, as in this case I totally missed it. Some form of clue tunnel vision?

87. Thanks Brendan. I agree with all the positive comments made here. I saw the obvious animals but did not think to look for the hidden ones. Another remarkable crossword. Thanks Eileen as always.

88. Great puzzle, thanks Brendan and thanks Eileen for blogging!
    I spent too long trying to something with rows 11 and 14, once I noticed they are anagrams respectively of ANIMAL and NAMES OF. Coincidence?

89. Alphalpha @82. I don’t get what he’s saying about themed/unthemed: clues abound (-ish) in penguins, guinea pigs, foxen (why not?) which are surely themed…… The GUINEA PIG was an answer, rather than a clue, and was clued in a non-animal way; the penguin, cobra and prawn were used to clue the thematically linking/prompting answer ANIMAL KINGDOM (the only solution with no animal in it, as Brendan surely didn’t intend MALKIN as part of the theme); and the ‘foxy’ definition in 26a was for a non-animal answer SHREWD which contained an unrelated animal.

    It’s a “ghost theme” in that you could not (seriously) get a Google list of all mammals, birds, fish and insects and use it to help solve the clues. The fact that Brendan commented elsewhere (and confirmed here) that he preferred to use ‘copies’ rather than ‘primates’ to clue APES shows how seriously (though still in fun) he treated this as simply a “ghost” theme.

90. This was great though I dudn’t spot the theme, despite registering lots of wildlife. What is the animal in histogram?

91. Ram?

92. SH@89 I agree about MALKIN.

93. I’m probably being dim, but I can’t parse 8 down. I can see that ‘natural realm’ = ‘animal kingdom’, and I realised that large varieties of cobra etc were ‘king’ varieties, but where does the ‘animal dom’ come from? I’d really appreciate being set right here, it’s bugging me.

94. Ogwen @93 – Animal Kingdom is a straight up definition for “Natural realm”. “-dom” is a suffix” describing a condition – “freedom”, “boredom”, etc. So three animals with “king” varieties could be “animal king”-dom.

95. Ogwen @ 93 – I think that the idea is that an ANIMAL KINGDOM would consist of the “king” varieties of animals, so there is no specific bit that means “dom”

96. Sorry MarkN @ 94, we crossed, and your post is more erudite than mine!

97. Ogwen, I thought it was a bit iffy too, but I shrugged and likened it to “animal royalty”

98. Shirl @96 – Not a problem. I honestly hadn’t properly parsed it fully when I entered it, but “king-dom” felt right – I thought I could see what was going on, but forgot to check. Ogwen’s question made me go off and confirm it with the other examples of “doms”. That’s one of the reasons this site is so useful. I’ve hopefully helped, but I’m also better informed myself, because of the initial question.

99. Puzzled that London is in THEFTS clue. Founded in London but…?

    Missed theme of course.
    Thanks both

100. Thanks to MarkN and Shirl for the clarification, and to GreginSyd for the fellow feeling.

101. Never mind a nap, Grantinfreo @19, I needed a full night’s sleep to finish this cracker. Never fails to surprise just how differently the clues appear after some time away.

     Despite coming here almost every day to check parsing and enjoy the anecdotes, I rarely contribute as I’ve nothing to add. However, today’s (sorry, yesterday’s) triumph of wit and ingenuity just has to be applauded. Chapeau, as they say round here. Many thanks to Brendan and Eileen.

102. Popped back to enjoy further discussion – wynsum@43 and loren ipsum@88 very well spotted, they would be two remarkable coincidences surely?

     tim@99 yes that threw me for a while too, Brendan is I think based in US so perhaps he is keen to assist those solvers outside the UK? Or maybe just to try to make it a little easier as with the “Australian” in DINGOES.

     Thanks all for further starling anecdotes and sonic links too – remarkable birds!

103. BTW, ,me @69, personally, I would never use APES = monkeys, despite what Wiki says; I think it’s misleading.

     As to themes, there has to be some inspiration for setting a crossword, and a blank grid is tough unless one already has a few puns, phrases etc to work with. As others have said, a ghost theme doesn’t detract from the solving but does produce another layer of satisfaction.

     Chapeau to Brendan/Brian.

104. Not being overly fond of themes I did have another look at this. I have to say every clue does stand up on its own two feet. Any one of them could happily be slotted into another puzzle with no theme and not look out of place
     Maybe DASSIE the least suitable, it is well clued but perhaps a little obscure if separated from the theme.

105. Thanks Roz (104). I do try to avoid obscurities (a relative term and setters tend to seek cover in the dictionaries) and could have put something like LASSIE but ASS is already in ASSET, so that consideration prevailed.

106. DASSIE is absolutely fine for this puzzle, I was just thinking it was the worst candidate to insert in another puzzle , all others would fit seamlessly.
     Nothing wrong with a couple of obscurities in a puzzle, nice to learn things, but always nice to see – obscure answer , clear precise wordplay.

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