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Stumped at first, then got going in the SW corner and found everything started to slip into pla(i)ce quite nicely.

Yes - nice puzzle. Got the theme from the last few down clues early and then all went swimmingly.

Truly delightful though I am unable to parse 39a but think M seems likely. Also I have not yet found the quotation exactly as it appears in the puzzle - the second word comes later.

I see it now at 39a.

Googling "F-------- only liars" takes you right to it, in image form. It's preceded by another line.

Returning from 2 weeks away found this puzzle very pleasing - but now have to tackle 4448 which was saved for me. Noting that on this site it managed 7 pages I guess it will be more challenging!

Am I the only one who's finding it impossible to parse some of the clues? 11 (RIPPON, apparently), 17, 37, 39 (no indication that the word for 'assent' might be a homophone), 3, 6 ... they just don't add up. And I say this having sussed the verse and understood the theme. I'm feeling irritatingly dense.

Yes. Thank you very much M.

I don't think it's you Saoralba, some of the clues were hard to parse, even when you knew what letter needed to be dropped. 11 is an old spur associated with Ripon racecourse, ippon is a score in judo or karate (2nd R dropped from scorer). 17 is RETS for softens, preceded by a fish. 37 ALDI, just dial cycled (N dropped from gent). 39 MEN preceded by a fish. 3 SOW including a young version of a fish. 6 RA for a being close to an Egyptian, followed by a fish.

Thank you Meursault. All a bit fiddly, I'd say. I'm still not clear about 17, unless STER(n) is intended - and if it is then I don't think much of 'Left' as a reversal indicator.

Other weaknesses: 'seem smaller' in 19 isn't justified by Chambers, which gives the answer as vt only; and 2 (after subtraction of the extra letter) was just a straight - if artful - definition clue of the type found in The Times or similar puzzles, not in The Listener.

My final grump was with the preamble, where 'apart from its last word' could have avoided unnecessary ambiguity. I expect others will think these criticisms unfair or irrelevant.