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Ah got parsing now - don't think it's outside of sail - think stuns'l as an abbreviation

Chambers shows an acceptable short form (little) for sail is s'l.

I'm a little confused by 13d too. The clue definitely reads "picked".

S'l = an abbreviation for sail, hence 'little sail'

Dylan, you may have made a wrong change to 21d. There's a less obvious word that will work with 19ac.

Mind you, like Foinaven, I have hit an impasse after 12 changes.

Did you go from scenes to stenes to stenos by any chance Dryden? That last one was my 12th change and I too am truly stuck

My order of changes is:

13a, 2d, 22a, 11d, 8a, 21d, 19a, 5d, 17a, 18d, 25a, 23d, 12a, 13d, 1a, 3d, 11a, 14d

but now I seem to hit a brick wall again. And I don't see what the two alterations in 15d can be, without retaining 7a as a word.

Re 13 - apologies for the confusion. It is 'picked' that I should have typed in my previous comment. See under 1st def of pick in TCD.

S_Pugh - thanks for the explanation of s'l : I should have seen that...

Foinaven - good to see I'm not alone in the path I plodded down! I too am stuck, but the bit that worries me is the move from 12a to 13d. I eventually went down that route, but surely it leaves 6dn 'orphaned' as it leaves only the junction with 4a as a potential change, and there need to be two changes per answer?

I can see an alternative way forward from 12a to 6d then 4a, 20d, 7a and 15d, BUT it relies on a re- word which is not given in the BRB but is listed on QAT (union).

Thank you, Meursault.