Sunday Times Prize Crossword 4522 Sunday January 27Th 2013

[mercedita]

17A Character encountered in fiction? One's forgotten (6). I have _ E _ T _ E. LEFTIE would fit and the L . . . IE could be the 'fiction', but I can't see how the rest would fit.

7D A little banking marks the river. (5) I have S _ M _ E. SOMME would fit for the river, and 'marks' could be the MM but how does the rest SO..E fit?

Lastly:23D Digit not used when counting to ten (3). I can see the digit is TOE but how does it get there?

Hoping someone can explain for me!

[keet007]

7)somme

[Oldred]

7d some ( a little) around M

[keet007]

23) toe

[keet007]

Toe after using you fingers

[Oldred]

23d presumably because you can count to 10 on your fingers

[mercedita]

Thanks, everyone. Still stuck on 17A. If the 'character' is METTLE, and the 'encountered' is the MET, and 'fiction. One's forgotten' is the L ( I ) E, how do you deal with the extra T in METTLE?

[factor-fiction]

Fiction= tale
Forget the A )one)

[factor-fiction]

So: MET + T(a)LE

[mercedita]

Thanks, factor30 for your patience! Wood for trees syndrome here!