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I retire from this puzzle, defeated only by 2d (A*I*L), baffled by some of the wordplay, and unable to 'rebuild' 19d. I wonder how many southerners have heard of, let alone visited, the rebuilt versions of 15d and 4a.

Clues like 8d are unfair. The solution hasn't been absorbed into English. We puzzlers would all cry foul if an answer was an obscure Hungarian, Tagalog, Albanian, etc word or phrase.

B. - 2D is ARIEL (A= some; RIEL = Cambodian currency, i.e. 'sugar')

B - Oh, and 19D might be rebuilt as HORNCASTLE if I am not mistaken.

Late to the party. Should have passed.

What a piece of work!
A favela is a shanty-town. Bit of a stretch to workhouse.
None of Wiki entries for these towns mention "workhouse". How PC.

Only place:
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/
Too bad I don't have that encyclopedia.

And 3D TESTON ? Where does that lead?

Last quibble -- 26D It's EL ALAMEIN.

All in all, Ptui.

St Neot?

I think it's Totnes.Must admit it was very hard going. Maybe I was lucky:the first place I found (guessing "castrated") was Tadcaster,& by chance the Wikipedia entry does mention the workhouse, otherwise I'd probably still be pulling my hair out now (quite apart from the help from all of you).Surely it's like most of the other more difficult cryptics we do,though: you learn a hell of a lot along the way,but at the end you ask yourself whether it was really worth so much effort (especially when your computer's about to give up the ghost,like mine yesterday). Oh,well...

...and btw I believe El Alamein is slightly different from Alamein if I remember the results of my search --- but quite honestly can't be bothered to start looking all over again.Recondite enough anyway! Nevertheless have a good day!

GK - Totnes is much better than St Neot! It doesn't make any difference to completing the crossword, of course.

I took shanty, in the ramshackle sense, as an anagram indicator to explain the title.

Thanks Joan & GK.

Both work. Guess I was just grumpy. Full moon?
http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/phasenow.php
Anyway, hardly something known, or guessable, half-way round the world.

GK. Not seeing "Alamein" by itself, other than companies. If you remember, please post.
Hate to leave things unresolved.
Though, obviously, it's a long shot.