express big monday today

[peanut247]

23d rare silvery metalloid element used to impart blue colour to glass v????????

[cruciverbali]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanadium

[peanut247]

crossword states 9 letters vanadium is only 8

[lilypoppyfre]

tellurium ?

[factor-fiction]

Neodymium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium

[factor-fiction]

Where does the V come from, please?

[peanut247]

v comes from lev currency of bulgaria which is correct

[factor-fiction]

Lev seems okay, but the only element beginning with V is Vanadium
http://chemistry.abou.../elementlist.-Nwj.htm

[peanut247]

yes i agree, which seems to me that the crossword is misprinted

[factor-fiction]

LEV may be wrong- could it be BGN

[ronayne]

bulgarian currency is 20a not 22! does that help?

[20ParkDrive]

22a Any small social hymenopterous insect of family Formicidae, found on all continents except Antarctica (3)

The last letter of this answer gives you the first letter of 23 Down

The question you are looking at is 20 Across

[factor-fiction]

And that would make Neodymium fit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium

[peanut247]

that would mean that the element starts with a letter n. can you suggest one that would fit? Also bgn is not listed in the table of elements in Chambers dictionary

[factor-fiction]

Could be ANT then? So Tellurium would then fit.
Or maybe I'm confused now too

[ronayne]

i believe factor30 has given you the answer

[ronayne]

i think i am more than confused, might go back to bed!

[factor-fiction]

No- BGN is the currency not an element!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGN
Anyway, maybe you have got the clues mixed up so LEV could be correct

[ronayne]

thank you factor30, i think i am back on track now!

[20ParkDrive]

Tellurium fits in with 29 across and 37 across

[peanut247]

I think it must be tellurium. Apologies to all