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&quot. 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