cmt, that old clue is in this thread, by the way:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34524664

You posted the clue on 9/6.

I'll wait to see if Lewis posts something. If not, I'll think of something to post.

I'll give my 2 cents about this thread. I suppose the clues can be sometimes obscure (esp one of those "guess what I'm thinking" clues), but I think all of us do a decent job in providing enough hints to lead one to the answer. Most of the clues on the thread require some sleuthing & googling, which some people may not bother to do so if they are busy.

Sorry, got caught up in someting last night and couldn't get to posting a clue.

Building on the A in Carlo,
this Portugese persons self-proclamation as king was finally recognized in 1143 at the Conference of Samora when Alfonso VII recognized him as such.
6,9 A first letter of first name.

I guess I'll wait if someone jumps in on this one too -- I just Googled it.

Alfonso Henriques? (But first name has 7 letters unless this is wrong.)

That's funny. When I typed "portuguese king samora" into Google, the first link shows Afonso Henriques (no "l"). But Alfonso would make more sense, wouldn't it?

By the way, cmt, if you aren't working on your next clue already, we demand that you start. :-)

Right! I checked and there was no "L" !! you're up.

cmt?

I saw the site spelling it Afonso, too, but elsewhere on the same site it was spelled Alfonso, so I think the l-less version was a typo.

I'm looking for the names of two famous regional styles of embroidery, one with 5 letters, one with 7, both having the A from Alfonso in second place. Both are located in a country that is spelled with 7 letters in English but 12 letters in the local language.

The following clues will help you arrive at the pronunciation, but not the spelling of each:

1. A.M. talk show star + 1/2 a toy

2. Tragic, tersely written novel set in northern Ireland + water, water, everywhere in the Loire + 1/2 a dance.

Nothing comes to mind, but are you sure that the letter count for the country in the local language is 12 letters?

Truthfully, I thought it was 11 letters, but when I checked, I saw it was 12 (though I did see it with 11 letters quite a few times, apparently misspelled). The first 6 letters are obvious.

Hm....

I guess my guesses for the country are wrong then.

I guess I at least haven't recycled an old clue this time. :)

No. I still think that it's 11 letters though....

I did try a couple of Google searches and I can't come up with anything.

Ok, I'll take a stab.

Guesses are Germany = Deutschland, Austria = Oesterreich, Holland = Nederlanden. They all have 11 letters.

I'm leaning towards Holland.

But I can't figure out what the regional embroidery are.

Satin is a type of stitch, but I can't guess the what the other one is.

Hey 111op-

I thought you were an expert on embroidery, no? :)

Maybe in my previous life. :-)

Did you try this puzzle?

I haven't tried too hard as I hadn't got much sleep lately. Now that you've narrow things down a bit for me (if any of the 3 are correct), I'm doing some searching but coming up with zip so far.

By the way, Wikipedia has a list of European countries which you can click through and also see what the spelling is in the original language.

I don't see any with twelve letters, but your eyes may be better:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe