Guardian Prize

[RogerBear]

Last of the second quartet (and only remaining gap): 15. The first person to settle in the West Country (4). Have - M - W, but nothing fits. Thanks.

[iminoz]

Smew (a type of duck)
"me" in SW

[RogerBear]

Thank you, iminoz. I finally worked that out for myself, and was just going in to delete the question when I saw you had already answered it. But for me, it was the hard slog of dumb elimination; for you, no doubt, it was plain sailing (in the pond with all those smews).

[RogerBear]

P.S. Why is the other 4-letter theme answer ZERO? I've scored that often enough in cricket, so know its thematic meaning, but I can't parse it. E or ER is presumably the "leading member of the establishment," but how is ZO or ZEO "cross"?

[Cloverjo]

I haven't got my dictionary with me so can't check, butI think ZO is a cross-breed animal.

[iminoz]

As cloverjo says, a ZO is a cross between a yak and a cow, with ER in the middle.