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I think Orient Fan that you need 'work' included in the definition part to make it a noun phrase. Imo it parses well on those grounds.

Orientfan - it is indeed remake. Spare = lean = thin and a thin person can be called a rake! The definition is "work shot again" as in to re-shoot a film.

Thanks all. I'll (re)make it up to you one day...

As ever, it's easy when you see it!

First time poster here, I'm fairly new to the Listener and enjoy it hugely. The puzzles tend to take me a long time but I am hoping that this will improve as I become more accustomed to them. I liked this one, with some tough but mostly fair clues - except perhaps the one involving Central American maps. I'm stuck on the last two, which I can't make head nor tail of, and would appreciate a gentle prod in the right direction. They are 8 (which I think is entered inwards, L-C--Y) and 9 (which I think is a B, --O--Y). I've been staring at them for 24 hours and can't get anywhere!

Without doubt this was one of the most difficult puzzles that I have managed to complete. This would not have been possible without the assistance of several contributors to this site: my thanks to them.

In this spirit of gratitude let me offer some observations for any setters who may be monitoring this site. I am not good enough for the Premier League. Like Norwich City I bob around the middle to bottom of the Second Division (misleadingly entitled the Championship). I greatly enjoy the Listener as an intellectual exercise. When I am stuck these hints keep me going – for me they are to be encouraged and applauded. Also it is better if the challenge is in a difficult theme rather then difficult clues. In 4463, in my view, clues 10 and 27 were disproportionately hard to solve.

Few may agree I know – but spare a though for the challenged.

Martyn, those are fair comments. Generally it seems to be accepted on this forum that solvers are at different levels, and help is given. Though this occasionally attracts criticism, the answer always is..."Well, you don't have to look here until you've finished, unless you want to."

Kitsune, welcome. 8 is a jumbled entry. SIC followed by regular letters from 'naked lady'. 9 is indeed a 'B', DROSKY.

The jumbled entries are 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 21, 23, 31, 35 and 36.
The outward entries are 5, 6, 13, 26 and 34.

I'm also a first-time poster and a first attempt at a Listener crossword.
I couldn't have got anywhere near a solution without the forum, which I've enjoyed hugely.

I think I've got the complete solution except for one item which has me completely stumped: the 4 letter definition in the 3rd ring which starts with a letter from a jumbled clue,so could be one of two, yet neither give a word which has any relation with the other 5 in the ring. H or G?

Having got this far, I'm reluctant to give up!

Hi Gaverne, I think this may have been covered earlier in the thread, but I'm happy to do so again. The 3rd ring item must be GILL. The 5th definition in Chambers for Gill is a 2- or 4-wheeled cart for carrying timber. So then 36, jumbled, must be IHGDEA reading inwards, since the DEA are set by 37 (an inward entry - NO IDEA), and the I is set by the perimeter definition.

Thanks, Meursault. I'd tried to substantiate GILL everywhere (I thought),
but couldn't find this 5th definition. Even the on-line Chambers doesn't give it as far as I could see, and my 1965 edition certainly has only 4!

Welcome Gaverne and Kitsune! You'll notice that the setters state the version of Chambers that should be used for reference - usually 2016. There are substantial differences between the various editions and Gill is such an example. I find the Chambers app which I have on my smartphone is superb and I strongly recommend spending a small sum to install it if you have a smartphone. It's based on the 2013 Chambers but there are few times when it has let me down. It has all 5 definitions of Gill....