Crossword Help Forum
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supersub,
17a - 'all of Dior' is a french word for all. Be careful to pick the right one out of the various forms (masc., fem., plural). It's a container clue.
18d - look up the second 'rum' entry in Chambers, then think numbers.

I'm coming to this very late in the day, having spent the Christmas holiday far from the internet (makes a change!). A solid day's work sees me still needing 2D (there's an obvious answer but I can't get the wordplay to work) and 17A which leaves me baffled. Am I right in thinking that once the unclued light has been worked out (done that) and the 4-letter coincidence found (done that) then the tedious business of gazing at pairs is unnecessary? And in my house I have many examples of the central coincidence: in some the longer part completely obscures the shorter while in other the shorter, being fatter, remains visible. I'm inclined to enter the central column in the manner of the second possibility - what do others think? (And a pointer to the two elusive clues would be welcome.)

Overlapped with Dryden - 17A now clear.

Thank you . Just the job. Ray

Cockie, the first three letters of 2d mean "increases" and the second three mean "dangerous". I'm still finding 12a and 17a opaque. I can see what the first four letters of 9d should be from hints but don't see how it can be the past tense of that verb as it would need another letter. I can see what the meaning of 18 down is but not its form.

barretter, 61 above should lead you to 17A - it's a containment clue. And in 9D the S is not in the answer but is needed to give the "mugged".

Thanks for that. Got all the answers now bar 17A even though I know the French for all. As the answer crosses the central column can I presume it is eight letters long?

Ah, got it now. I was using the wrong definition. The only two problems I have now are how to enter 4A (are all the letters used?) ; and what the puzzle means!

Cockie: my assumption is that the preamble wouldn't say that 'lengths in brackets refer to grid entries' unless the first possibility was the one intended. This means that (if I'm right) a completed grid won't show evidence that the solver has actually worked everything out - but I think that risk has been minimised by Sabre by making it necessary to perform a substitution on one of the letters that won't then appear. Devilish cunning is at work here!

On the other hand (so to speak), if that substitution is meant to appear in the grid, then the second possibility may well be correct. But then the unclued entry wouldn't 'illustrate the cause of the coincidence', which in the two examples requires absolute precision. If my entry is disallowed because I've chosen wrongly I shall be hopping mad.

Finally, if you don't work out what the letter pairs are telling you, how will you be able to carry out all the substitutions correctly?

I normally really enjoy Sabre but not this time as I have no idea what is going on! For instance, how should I enter 'ACANTH'? We are told to change one letter but the C and A match down answers, the A and N are unchecked and the TH goes somehow in the central column. So, what changes?