Last Times Quick Cryptic of 2021

Times Quick Cryptic No 2039 by Breadman

We have reached the last Quick Cryptic of the year, so Happy New Year to all our solvers and setters when it comes tonight. Our setter today is Breadman and I found this mostly straightforward apart from my last one in - the English river, which I hadn't heard of. Eventually I put my trust in the wordplay and was relieved to see all green. COD to 17D for the great surface. Thank-you Breadman. I was finished in a time of 4:40, my fastest of the week. I think it's definitely a lot easier than yesterday's Izetti, but how did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, "Goodbye 2021 and Hello 2022" here. Enjoy! If anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to all 41 here.

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Weekend Quick Cryptic 41 - Goodbye 2021 and Hello 2022 by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword, published at the end of 2021 to be solved in the first weekend of 2022. If you are solving on Saturday I hope you don't need any 16A first!

Art Workshop

Yesterday Aunty Sue arrived for a short visit.... So now we were 7... and were running out of beds. Laura had brought her art materials with her. No challenge this time, just a free-for-all and Aunty Sue joined in.

Needham Market Walk

The rain was easing off again, so a chance to get out for a bit of a walk. Aunty Sue and Laurence had never been to Needham Market before, so a short walk there before lunch would suit.

A Piece of Pie

Boxing Day dinner... and we had masses of roast turkey leftovers. Fortunately I had a plan. I'd seen this recipe on BBC Good Food as a suggestion and thought it sounded quite tasty.

Lavenham Boxing Day Walk

The weather was pretty miserable, but the rain got lighter mid-morning so we decided to go for a short walk. Laurence hadn't been to Lavenham before, so we thought we'd do a short walk based on this Suffolk Threads brochure, which I'd done previously in November last year (see here)... but omitting the railway line bit as it was likely to be more muddy than somewhat.

Christmas Eve Sea-front Walk

It has become a family tradition that I take the "kids" to Felixstowe on the morning of Christmas Eve to keep out of Dawn's way as she gets the house ready for Christmas.

Blackthorpe Barn and Rougham Walk

Today's was the last group walk of the year for Joyce's Weekly Walks. This was the invite..

Times for the Times Christmas Crossword

It is a tradition that had lapsed and people were bemoaning that, so Isla3 (who is in Western Australia - we are a global community!) decided to volunteer to get one done this year. I was asked if I could help with the publishing and ended up helping with the editing too. This was the original announcement...

Drizzly Long Melford

Yesterday as Laura was visiting, I thought it would be good to take her (and her brother and sister) out for a bit of a walk. I decided a repeat of this walk in Long Melford would do the trick.

Art Challenge

Since finishing her Ph.D. Laura has had some time to do some painting (including producing the mouse mats she gave us recently). One of her pictures framed is shown above.

Last night she and Sarah played an Art Challenge game, and Dawn joined in.

Another Mara Quick Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic No 2029 by Mara

Today I got my second Mara Quick Crossword in a row to blog. It's another good one, and I enjoyed savouring the clues as I compiled the blog. We are treated to a rare reverse cryptic type clue, which was my COD. I hope it didn't baffle too many. My LOI was 16D where I hesitated over the 3rd letter. One or two other tricky clues might cause some head-scratching (is 23A true for you?), but I finished in 5:03. Thank-you Mara. How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Christmas Lunch Party

Today Joyce's Weekly Walks group had a pre-Christmas celebration. This was the invite.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 40 - by Sawbill

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May 2020, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

Jungle Mouse Mats

Laura had a gift for us when we met on yesterday's walk. She had created these Jungle picture mousemats herself. Lovely! Thank-you, Laura!

Marriott's Way

Today we had a walk through Norwich and along part of the route of the old Midland and Great Northern railway, known as Marriott's Way.

In Search of a Murmuration

 It was an early start this morning...

Quick Crossword of the Year?

Times Quick Cryptic No 2021 by Mara

It's my turn to come off the blogging team substitutes' bench again today for this crossword of the year - or is it just the year of the crossword? Yes, we've reached Quick Cryptic number 2021! But it's nothing particularly out of the ordinary, just a regular neat QC from Mara today, although it was only when writing the blog that I noticed how many double definitions we had in the Down clues. I liked the dastardly Spanish supporter, but COD to 17D; is it a reference to sleaze perhaps? My LOI was 24A being slightly puzzled at first by who is hugging what. You need to take care to identify the definition correctly in 13D. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much to frighten the horses. Well not to me, anyway, as I got through this 4:31. Thank-you Mara. How did the rest of you get on?

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Ed's Real Leaving Do

I got a message on a Jumbo crossword post on my blog...

An easy Jumbo Crossword

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1527 - 20th November

I found this Jumbo very straightforward, taking only 24 1/2 minutes, which is possibly my fastest, maybe because, for once, there was nothing unknown. But it was no less fun for that. Clues that got ticks on my paper copy included 8D, 21D 39D and 44D. I also enjoyed the reference to one of my favourite French composers and, with a first degree in Metallurgy, the two metals. Thank-you setter. How did everyone else get on?

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Inverness and a Train to Edinburgh.... and Beyond

On my way home after Aunt Iris's Funeral yesterday I first had a little tour of the city before catching the train to Edinburgh...

Quick Crossword with a hidden message by Corelli

Times Quick Cryptic No 2019 by Corelli - Yes I saw Lisa

A lovely middle-of-the-road quick cryptic to end the week from Corelli that took what is, for me, an average time of about 5 1/2 minutes. A few trickily disguised definitions caused me a bit of head-scratching... and might for others too. COD to 6A for the dig at President Vlad.

Noticing that our setter was Corelli, I remembered that previous crosswords had some sort of theme. My suspicions were aroused when I got to the seemingly random girl's name at 16D which got me wondering... So what did I find? After you've tried looking for yourself, click on the link below to see (and hear). Nice one Corelli! Thank-you! And thank-you also for the reminder that "we're not as smart as we'd like to think we are". How did you all get on?

What I found

In the grid we have LUCKY STARS by DEAN FRIED.. MAN (over two lines) and DENISE MARSA (with a right-angled turn up at the end). No I didn't remember it. Did you? You can hear the delightful 1970s duet here.

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Goodbye Aunt Iris

Yesterday I was in Inverness for the funeral of my Aunt Iris, Dad's elder sister, who had her 90th birthday earlier this year.

Weekend Quick Cryptic 39 - by Phil Jordan

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Phil's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

Jock's Spot

Well this was a blast from the past!

Dr. Laura Moody - A Celebration

I mentioned in my post about yesterday's walk that I had a phone call from Laura after her PhD viva telling me she had passed with only a few minor corrections needed to her thesis. Hooray!  Well done Laura, and I hope the results of her research will go on to save the lives of many people suffering from mesothelioma.

Berner's Heath Walk

Today we visited Berner's Heath, which is only open from the start of November through to the end of February. I walked it before with Joyce when we were allowed only 1:1 walks in February, as you can read here. This time we were able to do it as a group.

A neat Quick Crossword from Tracy

Times Quick Cryptic No 2011 by Tracy

As your regular Tuesday blogger Chris is away for a while, I've come off the substitutes' bench to fill his slot today. When I printed out this crossword from Tracy, I was struck by the concision of the clues - all of the down clues and all but two of the across clues fitted on a single line each - totalling 14 lines of text. Furthermore there are 13 clues with 5 words or less. It has impeccable surfaces too; my favourite being 1D. A super example of a Quick Cryptic, to my mind.  It was maybe the short clues that helped me to a very speedy time of 3:34. Thank-you Tracy! How did you all get on?

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Sarah the Fuchsia

A little while ago we bought some Penstemons called "Laura" from Rougham Hall Nurseries. Well Dawn went there again a few weeks later and found a fuchsia called Sarah, so had to get that too.

North Meadow - Gone but not forgotten

Today I returned from Darlington via the site of Mum and Dad's old house in Wolviston - North Meadow.

Andrew Angus RIP

A footballing Quick Cryptic from Rodney

Times Quick Cryptic No 2009 by Rodney

This was fun. A rare appearance, only his third as far as I can see, for today's setter Rodney. Lots of smooth surfaces and witty clues. I was held up only by the SW corner where I had to remember the fabric. LOI 18D. I liked 20D best. All finished in 5:46 so not as easy for me as yesterday's or the day before's. As I started on the blog I began to wonder if there is a theme of sorts. Is there? Click the "What I found" link below to see what I think it's about. Thank-you Rodney! How did you all get on?

Click here to see what I found.

The (potential) football references, PLAY, TOE, ON THE BALL, TEAM (in wordplay) and the clubs FULHAM and CARLISLE (spread across two answers) prompted me to look up "Rodney Fulham Carlise", which led me to the footballer Rodney McAree who scored a famous goal for Fulham against Carlisle in 1997 which won Fulham promotion from the old third division. He also played for and then managed the Dungannon Swifts.. is that why we have LILLIPUT? But who are LEN and SANDRA? Can anyone add anything to this? Or am I barking up a wrong tree?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Weekend Quick Cryptic 38 - For WAA by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

Weeting Walk

The sun was shining today and I will be in my car heading north tomorrow, so I thought I'd get out for a walk. I chose to go north of Bury St. Edmunds and plotted a circular walk from Weeting via Grimes Graves.

U3A November Lecture - Classical Tricks in Building Design

Today I went to my second Bury St. Edmunds U3A monthly lecture in the APEX.

Brandon Country Park Fungus Foray

Today we had our annual autumn trip to Brandon Country Park to look for mushrooms and enjoy the autumn colours.

What is this?

 

Can you tell?

The Lost Cove is no more...

 

Some 9 years ago the underpass to Lawson's place in Moreton Hall was painted with a mural called "The Lost Cove". (You can see more photos of the original here). After a few years, though, it started getting defaced with graffiti. But now it has been repainted. 

Wattisfield Walk

Today was another sunny day so I just had to get out for a bit of a walk in the autumn sunshine. I decided to continue extending my collection of paths walked further north-east from Bury St. Edmunds by trying a route from Wattisfield. I had previously noticed from the map that, like nearby Stanton, it had a Grundle.

Lavenham to Long Melford Walk

Today we did a circular walk from Lavenham to Long Melford and back. It was based on this walk, although we didn't follow the route exactly, avoiding the St. Edmunds Way at the start. This was the invite from Joyce.

A Neat Quick Cryptic From Joker

Times Quick Cryptic No 1999 by Joker

A neat and pleasant Quick Cryptic from Joker today to finish the week's Times series. Some gentle clueing, I think, helped me complete this in my fastest time for a while. I liked the building skills shown in the construction of 9D and the reminder of one of my favourite English composers at 21D. I also liked 22A, but COD, though, to 14D, which made me smile most. Thank-you Joker! I was all done in 3:55. How did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment (his second). You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Great Finborough Walk

Today I led a walk from Great Finborough. I did my recce only yesterday and we followed my route today as planned. This was the invite...

Weekend Quick Cryptic 37 by Sawbill

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May 2020, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Sawbill's turn (only his second) to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

Sheringham Park Walk

 

Today we had a trip to the North Norfolk Coast. This was the invite from Joyce.

A Sunday in York with Sarah and William

As I was in York for the Sloggers & Betters Event, I arranged to meet up with Sarah and William for a while before heading for home.

Sloggers & Betters Weekend York

This weekend I was off again to York for John Henderson's annual crossword bloggers and setters get together, known as the Sloggers & Betters do. I really enjoyed them in both 2018 and 2019. And this time I qualified as both a blogger and setter! This was the original invite....

Jumbo Time

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1522 - 16th October

I found this an entertaining Jumbo of about average diffculty; (almost) nothing to frighten the horses and a number of clues that had me smiling. I was finished all bar 1 in about 37 minutes, but then got stuck on 47D, where I knew neither of the two definitions and after another 7 fruitless minutes staring perplexedly at it eventually had to look for help. I don't know if it was just me, but there seemed to be a lot of letter deletion clues. Maybe that's what 1A was trying to tell us! Ticks went on my copy for several clues, and there were a few where I enjoyed teasing out the wordplay (e.g.17D) or I word I didn't know (e.g. 42D), but my favourite was 49A. Thank-you setter. How did everyone else get on?

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More Pickled Jalapeños

Time to give up on the Jalapeños ripening - only a handful had turned red. And to make some more pickled jalapeños, but this time without the honey.

Green Tomato Chutney

Dawn had harvested the last of the cherry tomatoes at the weekend and a lot of them were never going to ripen., so I decided to try some Green Tomato Chutney.

Devil's Kiss Chilli Sauce

Today I made some Devil's Kiss sauce, another favourite. The name was chosen by the children the first time I made it in 2018 (see here) or maybe earlier

Saffron Walden Walk

Today we had a walk in and around Saffron Walden. I thought I'd been there more than once before, but it seems it was only this Ramblers walk from September 2018.

Shotley Point Walk

It was a lovely morning and Dawn asked, "Shall we go for a walk?". But of course. I had a little browse through my walk index pages (2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 - which is now up to date) and chose this one we had done in October 2018 from Shotley Point.

Chilli Jam

This proved very popular when I made it a couple of years ago (see here), so I thought I'd make some more with some of the lovely red cayenne peppers we have.

Honeyed Jalapeños

 

Pickled on Friday afternoon and labelled yesterday...

Brandon Allen at the Hunter Club

 

Last night we were at the Hunter Club again for some Jazz.

Another good Izetti Quick Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic No 1989 by Izetti

A crossword from our old cruciverbal adversary Izetti today to end this week's series of Times Quick Cryptics. I enjoyed this a lot, particularly 22A and the smattering of cleverly vague definitions that made them not easy to biff. I finished with the historical geographical region at 14D that may be unfamiliar to some, but is generously clued, and 20A, where I needed the crossing letter from 17D to find the animal. All fairly clued, but at the harder end of the spectrum if my time is anything to go by, finishing about 2 minutes over my average time for a QC in just over 7 minutes. Thank-you Izetti! How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil's turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

( Read all about it... )

Weekend Quick Cryptic 36 - by Phil Jordan

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is Phil's turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. 

U3A Bury St. Edmunds Lecture October 21

 Today I attended my first U3A monthly lecture in the Apex... 

Razorback Sauce

Yesterday it was time to make some chilli sauce from the first of our chilli crop. The padron peppers are for salads or cooking with and the jalapeños need a bit of ripening, but we have plenty of red cayenne peppers, which will be great for an old favourite - Razorback Sweet Chilli Sauce.

Boudica is Innocent!

When we did the first part of the Boudicca Way (sic - there are various spellings!) recently I meant to take along my historical notes from when we did part 2 of the walk last November to regale people with when we had our lunch stop. But I failed to print the right page. Grr. 

Subscribing to Blog Updates

Some people have asked how they can get updates to my blog. If you would like to subscribe to get an email when there are new posts (there will never be more than one email a day), this is how to do it... 

Ickworth Park Walk

Today we did a familiar walk at Ickworth House starting and finishing at Chevington Church.

More Sax Please

Having had the piano tuned for the first time in years (see here), I've started playing it again. And that has encouraged me to start addressing a remaining goal I set when I retire...

Halloween Postbox

We had Laura and Lawrence here for the day on Sunday and went out for a short walk after our Sunday Roast Beef lunch. Look what we found on top of a local postbox!

The Demon Barber...

...of Tassel Rd.  After all her work in the garden over the last few weekends, Dawn finally got time to give me another haircut yesterday.

Chilli Harvest - First Crop

 Yesterday Dawn cropped most of this year's chilli harvest, so look what I've now got to do something with...

That's a washing-up bowlful on the right and colander full on the left.

Photo Count Competition

At last night's meal at the end of Day 4 of our East Devon Holiday, I was told of a competition Joyce had organised. Everyone was invited to guess how many photos I had stored on my memory card in my camera over the 4 days, before editing or deleting. These were the guesses...

A Feast of Anagrams from Mara

Times Quick Cryptic No 1979 by Mara

A great Quick Cryptic from Mara today to end the week if you are a fan of anagrams. Blimey! No less than 10 of them (if I can count that far correctly)! Nothing obscure or too difficult, I think, but I found I didn't know how to spell the country at 5D and there are a couple of tricky clues that might give some a bit of head-scratching. Thumbs up or thumbs down to the homophone? (I won't spoil it by naming the clue). Thumbs up from me for eliciting a groan when I saw it. A little over average time of me of about 5 1/2 minutes. Nice one. Thank-you Mara! How did you all get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword, entitled "Berried" (based on the horrible pun that is my username and a related homonym) here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

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Sid Valley Ring Walk

Today was Day 4 of our East Devon trip and our longest (and hilliest) walk of the week, the Sid Valley Ring. It is meant to be a 13 mile walk with options to cut it a bit shorter and we chose one of the options, the Byes Link which should have made it 9 miles...

Weekend Quick Cryptic 35 - Berried by Johninterred

Click here to read about the origin of this series of crosswords.

A brief history of the origins of these crosswords for those who are new to them. As a blogger of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword on Times for The Times every other Friday, I have often had comments on the blog bemoaning that The Times only provides a Quick Cryptic on Mondays to Fridays. When I finally gave up work at the end of February last year, I decided that I would try my hand at compiling crosswords. It was with some trepidation that I published, in May, the first of these Weekend Quick Cryptics to fill the gap. Well it seemed to go down well so I did another. And then my fellow crossword solver and commenter on Times for the Times, Phil Jordan, volunteered to produce some too. And then, more recently, so did Sawbill. So now the three of us take turns, publishing each new crossword via my Friday Quick Crossword blog. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.

This time it is my turn to provide the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic crossword. As is hinted at by the title, there is a theme. It is based on the terrible pun that is my username plus a related homonym that results in a different theme in some of the across clues from some of the downs. Can you work it out and spot the thematic answers?

Darts Farm and the Exe Estuary to Exeter

Today was Day 3 of our break in East Devon. We were to meet at Darts Farm, walk to Topsham Turf Ferry, take the ferry across the river and walk into Exeter up the other side of the river before returning to Topsham by train.