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Numbskull, you are correct re the clashes and the last letter is a. For Sri Lanka, think what it used to be called.
23a was explained earlier...better than I can!

Thanks Granama1, all clear now.

Hello! I've always enjoyed the large cryptic crossword in the Saturday Times but I am finding it a bit too easy these days. For that reason, I'm trying to get my head round the Listener Crossword, but some of the terminology eludes me. For example, this week 'crossing answers clash in 14 cells'. What exactly does that mean?

Thanks,
Suzannah

Suzannah, hello! The answer to 1 Across (in a puzzle) could be Banana, the answer to 1 Down could be Peach - so there's a 'clash' in the first cell. For this week's Listener, it was necessary to keep track of the letters involved in the clashes - BP in my example. Later on, there's stuff to be done with them.

Thanks Malone! I was hoping that was the answer to my problem, as it explains why I can't get some of my answers to fit with the others. These puzzles are such an upgrade on the normal cryptic ones. I'll get there in the end, though.

Think I'm all done. But why does preamble say only "one other cell (to be determined)" needs to be left blank? I make it 3 unless I've gone wrong somewhere. The other 2 are the same letter (as each other) but in other parts of the grid.

May have just answered my own question! But still think the other 2 should 'disappear'.

Not sure why you need 2 other squares to complete the end game conundrum simond9x. What do you think the end game says? The first 3 parts seem complete enough but the 4th definitely needs an addition.

Susannah, you’ll look back at the time when simple clashes were the height of your problems like a treasured childhood memory.

More typical is that it isn’t BANANA and PEACH you need to enter, its NANABA and ACHPE, because all fruit answers have to be entered cyclically. Or it isn’t PEACH anyway, it’s JAMES because the thing seems to be thematically based on the works of Roald Dahl, or other authors, whose initials themselves are also elements.

So I need to enter ‘11’. Except it’s not Na, it’s Rd, so it’s 120. And look - Ian Rankin! Hurrah! Rest of the day off!

Except now there’s Patricia Highsmith, and there’s no Ph in the Periodic Table.

Wait, Lewis Carroll, William Blake - could all clashes refer to Ordnance Survey map abbreviations?

A tiny map is gradually revealed, with fourteen symbols spread over the grid. You realise it’s the 23rd of June, and the map faithfully represents the OS map of site of the Battle of Bannochburn, the location to be determined by the solver mentioned in the preamble [cont p. 94...]

I wish I were exaggerating even a tiny bit.

I love them.

Another endgame query - when tracing the 7,8 phrase I see a bit of dyslexia in characters 3 and 4 of the first word. Is that part of the joke, maybe, or have I gone wrong? My answer to the question looks a bit odd as well. I've got L as the correction at 9d.