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22d Balloon finally inflates properly (5) S???L

S well.

Thanks,Rusty,much appreciated

Have managed to finish this, but as
happens with the Times every now and
then, it's been a bit of a struggle!
Two of the clues are not entirely clear
to me and they are 9 AC:- "Laughs
derisively about small serving of drink
in popular places". Answer is "Hot spots"
but couldn't parse the whole of the
clue. The other is 3 DOWN:- "Having
played instrument to make hole bigger?
Some hope". Answer is "Pipe Dream" but
couldn't tie up "to make hole bigger"
with "ream".

Laughs was 'hoots', small measure was 'tsp'(teaspoon).
In the other one, I think 'ream' means to drill, make holes.

Thanks, Malone! I was trying to use "S"
as the small part of the clue, but your
explanation has put that to bed! And "to
ream", meaning "to drill", is a new one
on me, so always willing to take more on
board!