V

1. 22nd letter of the alphabet. 2. Biochemical symbol for valine. 3. Chemical symbol for vanadium. 4. Roman numeral rendered in Arabic numerals as 5. 5. Cool 1983 TV miniseries about an invasion of the Earth by aliens who are not as friendly as they at first appear. 6. Symbol of victory, used by the French resistance in the Second World War. 7. Main character in V for Vendetta, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, who dresses in a stylised Guy Fawkes costume and sets about tearing down the totalitarian government of Britain. 8. The same character as played by Hugo Weaving in the movie based on Moore's graphic novel. 9. Thomas Pynchon's first novel. 10. As the V sign, a hand symbol indicating either "we've got this under control" or "up yours", depending on the direction the palm is facing. 11. Sexual symbol; first letter of vulva or vagina, and the shape of the figure echoes the folds at the split in the groin. As related in the pop mystical tale of The Da Vinci Code, the letter is a symbol of the female principle or the womb, with an inverted V as that of the phallus. 12. With a full stop, informal shorthand for the word very. 13. Short for versus. 14. I could go on ...,