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Thanks elle.

Can't believe I didn't see 'merit' in there. Had the blinkers on. Should have gone away and come back to it afresh.

Thanks too to the previous contributors. I should have said this before.

Having posted the above I've just seen posts 9 and 10. Thanks again folks. Appreciated.

Another one confounding me. Not so much the what, but more the why.

27. across.

French short story with surprise ending entering competition. (10)

Answer = C o n t e s t i n g ?

My thoughts:

Short story = st ?
Surprise ending = e ?
Entering competition = contesting ?

There's also 12 Across.

Trump's game upset insurgient concealing mean person exposing wrong doing. (7-6)

Answer= Whistleblower.

I can't see why though.

27a: yes, contesting = entering competition (def)
conte - French short story
sting- surprise

12a: whistle blower = person exposing wrong doing
whist - trump's game
rebel (reversed) - insurgent
l - low

whist - game
rebel (reversed)
(concealing ) low - mean

Brilliant! Thanks everybody.

Funnily enough I did look up conte in the oxford dictionary in case.

That oxford again. Should have gone chambers.

Sorry, for typo!
I meant to write...... low - mean !
(I was talking on the phone and trying to answer with half a brain and one hand!)