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Those in the know suggested this was at the easy end of The Listener scale, so I thought I'd give it a go. I've managed to finish it (I think!), but the parsing for this still eludes me....

14d. As with McEwans beer from the south, not entirely promising (6) - LIKELY

If I've got this right, the wordplay should lead to 7 or possibly 8 (the 'not entirely' might indicate a contraction) letters. The extra letter (or one of them) is an 'I'. I think 'As' might be 'Like', but that's as far as I get. Help appreciated.

Like is as

Yill is Scots for ale. Not entirely gives you yil.

From the south means reverse it and as you say I is the extra letter.

This gives you. Like + ly

Hi brendan, as ,= like, McEwan's to signify a Scottish word, here beer which is yill. From the south, not entirely yil(l) = liy
like + liy, likely with the "i' extra as you got.

Got it, thanks.

PS. In 32a., if I've got it right, the answer is hidden and the definition is 'to sift', so I can't work out why the clue starts with the word 'Local's'.

Hi again brendan. If I recall correctly you have a Chambers. You are correct, it's hidden and if you look at the entry it's denoted by (dialect) indicating a local word.

Thanks Ginge. Re Chambers, unfortunately I have to rely on the online version and, believe it or not, it's not even in there.

The online Chambers dictionary is based on the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, and not the Chambers Dictionary (the Big Red Book, as it's referred to.)

I have answers for 3 down and 13 across but I cannot parse them. Any help please?
Also I can see a name in the final grid starting from the first letter of 16 down but cannot find a sentence featuring the puzzle theme and that name. Again any hints please?

Hi phil535,
3d Forty (look in Chambers "forty": French Academy) change " t" to "a".
13. Lip in as (old Roman copper coin).
You are looking to convert the "sentence" provided by the extra letters into the same for as the definition only answers by highlighting the "name" replacement.

Same form not for.