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Hi pka1,
split the lower (6) from (4) branching into 2 other components; 1 "continuing" +2 the other commencing from the 5th of the (6) with +1 letter(s).

Thanks Ginge, was sidetracked by the down ‘AND’. Just didn’t see the way the lower 6 was going.

midgers, to add to ginge’s reply, when it says “ignoring blank cells” I interpret this as saying that each entry is a valid word or phrase if you imagine that the blank cells simply aren’t there: so in this case you join together the 4 before and the 1 after to make a valid 5-letter word which is, as ginge pointed out, a variant spelling of the same word that was there before we dropped the letter down.

I think I have the answers all in, but I’m struggling to parse 12a, 6d and 30d. I know which letter to omit from 12a and 20d, and in all three I can see the definition but can’t fathom the wordplay. Can anyone give me a hint?

Hi Mooncow, fresh in my mind as I only finished on Friday - 12a is T for tense and ALK(ie) for sot. H extra.
6d NA(var)IN is a stew leaving NAIN, Scots for own.
30d, LOT for huge amount round C for canine and US for one, in the royal sense.
I think that’s right anyway.

30d - B the extra letter