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I have often thought that lesson one in any language course should be pointing out what the student already knows c'est la vie , deja vu and so on . Any fan of Dr Zhivago will also know how to order parsnips in a Russian restaurant.

Morning all,
I rather enjoyed that. There is quite a strong theme I think. Films by a very specific director. I’ve spotted eight between the clues and the grid. There may be more. Seemingly random capitalisation of certain words is the give away.

I don't enjoy Paul puzzles on the whole, and that certainly included this one. I have question marks all over the place. I should have known there would be problems when my first two - 9a and 23d - were fairly obscure words, and my third - 20d - turned out to be wrong (HOT TIP works nearly as well, apart from the plant).

Lots of film references - not up my street. Does the film of that name excuse the lack of a foreign language indication in21d?

I won't ask about all my queries, but why does "state" give the first 4 letters in 7d?

Hi Chris, I also wondered about 21d but it is in Chambers. I took the 4 letters as an abbreviation of a US state.

Following my comment @12, I’m up to nine now

Thanks jono. I thought he was confusing it with "solid".

Thanks, Jono. Well spotted. Answers in 12a and 18a are also his movies.

Thanks Mathi, yes I’m including those in my total of nine (so far)

I'm still struggling with 25a. I get that the first word means something with a hole in it. And I can see where the final letter of the second word comes from. But that leaves three letters I can't account for.

castafiore
to and ???