polymath 540

[classicalgal]

Can anyone help please with this last query in today's polymath.

32a An elected magistrate in Sparta (8) e?h?r?a? I thought this was ephor which fits the first part of the answer. What then is ?a? ?

Thank you in advance.

Classicalgal

[surepseh]

I googled ephorate and that appeared to fit the bill

[classicalgal]

Thank you surepseh. I also googled this but the ' a' is in the wrong place. I have for 23a A female fan of the Sex Pistols (8) ?u?k???e = bunkmate. This places 'a' as penultimate letter rather than antepenultimate for ephorate.

[surepseh]

punkette

[classicalgal]

surepseh Thank you once again!- punkette- a much better answer than mine for 23d and more accurate.

For 32a ephorate will 'fill the holes' but is not an answer to the clue -an elected magistrate in Sparta. It's the government of five ephors(elected magistrates) as I'm sure you know.

Thank you once agin for time and trouble taken to reply.

Classicalgal

[Lie-in King]

Hi c'gal - may I proffer the following? -

OED (Online) gives -

1. The title given to certain magistrates in various Dorian states, esp. at Sparta, where the five ephors, appointed annually by popular election, exercised a controlling power over the kings.

Hence ... ephoralty, the office of ephor; also, the body of ephors. ephorate, = EPHORALTY in both senses.