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It's the a that is the problem.

What did you highlight gem?

I also assumed

TLA was linked to title as in its first 3 letters?

I think that you have highlighted what you are meant to, but none of the 6 examples are actually TLAs because they do not meet the definition of A, according to Chambers.

Ah I see.

My knowledge of acronyms is patchy to say the least. I'll look in Chambers to educate myself.

Thanks Gem

But tla can also stand for three letter abbreviations (as well as acronyms) and abbreviations fall into five main categories including initialisms (e.g.BBC). Source document The New Dictionary of Abbreviations.

I must apologise for causing some solvers anxiety. I was trying to make my point without giving too much away to anyone who hadn't reached the end, but clearly I caused some to doubt their highlighting. An acronym is a word formed from initials, such as RADAR. By extension it can apply to any abbreviation that could be appear to be a word and is often pronounced as a word, such as NASA. Three-letter acronyms from the computing world are DOS, RAM, LAN, all of which are usually pronounced as if they were words. CPU, MDC, etc are abbreviations, not acronyms.

Notrab, the source you quote is not a standard Listener reference. The Chambers dictionary is the primary reference and it's the Chambers definition that the puzzle should conform to unless the preamble says otherwise.

Have about 3/4 of the clues. Have had about 5 attempts to complete grid as far as possible! Does the high value letter in 5a across intersect with that in 7b down? If not a hint as to where another set of high value letters would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

I take your point entirely Dryden but I thought that the statement in the preamble that Chambers is the primary reference gave Pointer sufficient leeway to allow a secondary reference for a definition of tla!