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Thanks notrab. I notice there's an anagram of HARE along the top left diagonal!

yes, sorry I meant NW of course

Well spotted, Unclued. Maybe just send this puzzle in for 4422 and 4423 solutions ? Would save on the postage...

Aspria, the choice in the NW can only be made after working out the common phrase, and seeing how it is part of the grid. Then finding an easy anagram of the common phrase will help you resolve the ambiguity in the NW corner.

Thanks, Meursault. I have both the phrase and the anagram and all the other thematic material fits and have followed the path of the Phrase in the grid - on the right completely and on the left with one word SW. But in the area where the final resolution needs to take place there is no clear indication. I can see two thematic elements a bit jumbled but nothing further. Perhaps I will opt for the letter which has appeared only once so far to even things up!

Aspria, the apposite anagram appears in the grid as a mirror image of the common phrase. Enjoyed this puzzle after the slog of last week with unclear end game ( for me anyway!)

Many thanks Bambi123. All there but I hadn't spotted it. Very neat
ending.

Hi, Dryden, sorry to be slow in replying.

In 5d, I certainly wondered whether either “convenient” or “old” was an extra word, but then I checked the definition of the answer in Chambers and found that the relevant definition began “formerly”, so justifying the “old”, and could be equated with “convenient farmland”. So there were no extra words – the definition is “convenient old farmland” (I think that the word order is OK for a crossword clue).

The clue that I was sure right until the end had an extra word was 19a, where I couldn’t see the need for “Scotland” in the definition. It was only when I couldn’t get the endgame out (I had one S too many) that I checked the definition of the four-letter synonym for “truly” in Chambers. I found that this meaning was given as specific to North America and Scotland, so “Scotland” was actually part of the wordplay.

Unclued - Don't prolong the agony..... Thankfully finished this one satifactorily yesterday and spent today at a birthday luncheon celebration in London at 'The Jugged Hare' ... looking at a wall festooned with the heads of hares.....

Grateful for a simpler (and fairer) experience than last week's.

Can't quite see the wordplay for 11d.

I assumed it was

RS (royal society)

With rig (swindle) in reverse on top of RS to give girrs.