Herculis 14th May

[Meadow Lane]

5d "A violet or red dye used as a source of litmus and obtained from lichens" 6
ORC?I?
This could be ORCHIL or is it ORCEIN? Chambers gives that the latter is purple and the former red or violet. So I am going for ORCHIL. Is this correct please?

[Ont-ice]

From Chambers on-line
orchil or orchilla noun 1 a red or violet dye made from various lichens. 2 the lichen that yields it. Also called archil .

[sarumite]

There was a fairly lengthy discussion on this clue this morning .. I certainly favour Orchil.

[JoolsTwo]

Well that is what I have gone for - Too late to change my mind now it's been posted. I think 1 or 2 others are still undecided. :-)

[Meadow Lane]

Thanks to you three.
I was not aware of any earlier discussion for I've just got back home and tackled the Herculis immediately. I will make time to scroll through and check. I think this website is wonderful!

[Aquagility]

This is the link, Meadow Lane. But it's not very conclusive. I'm going with Orchil.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puz zles/Question406827.html

[Meadow Lane]

Thank you Aquagility. That link was very enlightening. I did scroll through many pages but had yet to find the earlier discussion. So thanks to you for giving the time and energy in helping. Interestingly the question of atomiser or atomizer came up earlier too. I reckon on atomiser but am not yet convinced it's with the 's' rather than the 'z'.

[Y.Odinlim]

Hello Meadow Lane,
Re 4d
I think ATOMISER is more likely, as the correct English spelling.
ATOMIZER is American "English". Still it's another case for the toss of a coin.
To stay neutral use a Euro!
Good Luck.

[Meadow Lane]

Thanks for your posting. I've decided to put atomiser as the Oxford Reference Dictionary has "atomizer... (also -iser) ... " so as an earlier ABer says the Telegraph will have to accept both. Well, I hope so!