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Thanks djawhufc!

Still struggling in this one - clues for 34a and 1d would help - thanks

34a jellyfish

UK AND J (for Japan) are part of wordplay


1d are services

it contains b and ada

Thanks again djawhufc - thought I was getting the hang of these in the last few weeks but this is a killer!

Glad to help.

This one is the toughest for a long while.

I now (finally!) have a full grid except for the first letter of 24dn, but I think I know which of the 2 possible letters goes up there, as I think I might have stumbled on the theme word. Could I email you my thought to see if it tallies with your solution? Obviously I don't want to post it directly here as it would be a spoiler for everyone else!

Yes no problem- daniel.angel@btopenworld.com

Hi, s_pugh,

I didn't finish this puzzle until about 1AM this morning, and I'm still not sure how to parse the wordplay in 2d and 20d.

As has already been noted in this forum, there are two cells on the NW-SE diagonal where there is a letter clash before the letters are replaced. One of these is the fifth cell of 24d, which is the ninth cell of 34a. The two letters clashing in this cell are both followed by the same letter in the theme word, so that resolves the clash. Of the two possibilities for the fifth letter of 24d, both are in the theme word, but only one is followed by the same letter as the letter that follows the letter in the ninth cell of 34a (sorry, that sounds very complicated).

Hi Wintonian

Eccles is one of the Goons. If you added that to the answer for 2d you will see wordplay.