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Finished 1126, but still struggling with last weeks, particularly top half of grid fill.
18a Without backing from Germany, and inside and outside France's borders (8) ?????DE?
12a Bands keeping your mouth shut just after A&E (5) ??NA?
11a Investigative methods of a majority of anagrams in review (6) ?R?A??
14a Host attending among friends and meat-eaters from Asia (8, two words) ?A?M????
Any hints on any of these would be appreciated

I'm not sure if you want just a clue, or the answer, for

18a. The German word for "and" occurs twice in the answer

14a. Palm cats?

By the way, what is EV?

EV is the abbreviation for Enigmatic Variations. It's in the Sunday Telegraph, is themed and often very difficult!

Thanks Mattrom, that was big help in getting me kick started again.

Thanks to help recieved I now have a full grid.
But haven't detected 4 extra/missing letters from the cryptic part of 4 clues?
Think I have 3 out of the 4 words (on rows 4, 6&7), but can't find a quote that links these.
Again any gentle hints appreciated.