I have just posted the blank crossword grid and a page with guidance and some Cryptic Clues in the Resources section. They can be downloaded and printed out. There are also 2 sets of Photo Clues (Across and Down) in the Resources section and in the Games, Simulators and Quizzes section of the Media Gallery. I have called it the Noses, Tails and Names Crossword because the photo clues are noses (or beaks) and tails which need to be identified with English common names. But you have to work out what these common names have in common before you can complete crossword. Happy Christmas and happy puzzling The solution will be posted in the New Year.
A brilliant challenge, @gentle lemur. I've spent a lot longer on it than intended. I'm stuck on my last two photo clues but have a fair few cryptic clues to go. Is the number of letters indicated on the answer sheet for 23 across incorrect, or is it just too late at night for me?
Very fun challenge, again! I'm down to my last, which is #23... Can't quite wrap my head around that one, and I've been wondering the same thing devilfish mentions above!
I do apologise. The numbers of letters for 23 Across should be 4,5 (to fit the 9 spaces in the grid). I will post a revised sheet in the Resources section.
After hours of being stumped and doing research, I just remembered a certain tale while on the toilet which gave me my final answer to number 23. You'll soon receive them in your inbox, @gentle lemur!
@KevinVar has also pointed out that I missed out an a letter E in 20 Across, so I apologise for that too (the E is silent when the word is spoken aloud).
I have just posted the crossword answers and the completed puzzle in the Resources section. I have also posted the images that were cropped to produce the photo clues in the Gallery. I do apologise for misspelling VERREAUX, which did spoil the grid. My only excuse is that I have been spelling it wrongly for more than 40 years On Friday 3rd October 1975 I saw and photographed a particularly beautiful male sunbird feeding on a flowering tree not far from the school where I worked in Ghana. Back at the bungalow I shared, I had to search the second volume of the African Handbook of Birds, Series 3 Birds of West Central and Western Africa. There were no field guides available then. I tentatively identified it as Madame Verreaux's sunbird (Cinnyris johannae), but then in my notes, I wrote out 'Verraux' and it seems that I have been making the same mistake ever since. Mea culpa! I only hope this didn't spoil anyone's enjoyment of the puzzle too much. Happy New Year.
Thanks for making the crossword! I never did get that last one, until I got a bit of help from @KevinVar, which is why I never sent in my answers. I had identified #23 to be one of two large Smaug species almost immediately, but had never heard of that alternative name for it, and couldn't find it online... I had a lot of fun with the rest, though! It was a very well-balanced puzzle, with a lot of very hard to find ones (definitely in the cryptic clues!). Happy new year!
I knew that was one of the harder clues, so I did check that information was available and found Smaug Giganteus – Finding Beauty in the Beasts where the alternative name is mentioned. Zonurus derbianus is a synonym, published a year after Zonurus giganteus was described. I remember the ones in the Tropical House at Chester 30 years ago where the name 'Lord Derby's giant zonure' was on the label (but of course Chester is not far from Lord Derby's stately home at Knowsley).
