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Thanks Manu

I'd never heard of the female saint from Kildare and even my musical husband had never heard of the last five letters in 25ac. 20ac was new to me as well and I can't see how it relates to 23d. I'd dearly love to know how 17d and 26ac parses.

Hi roof,
17d parses 7,1 where if you add a C into the middle of the first 7 letters and you’ll get desserts.

26a is 1, 3 around 1 where “stir” is replaced by another slang term for gaol/prison.

Is college really just the first letter of that word (27a)?

Mmm...yes!

Hi Jono

Thanks for hints. Oh, I didn't think of that meaning of "stir" for 26ac, but arrived at the right answer. Unfortunately, I think I must have the wrong answer for 17d. I have all the crossers and an answer for "best" as the definition, but can't see the desserts. Never mind. It is time for bed and I won't get time tomorrow to check the thread again.

I've just re-read your thead and now I get it. Thanks.

Thanks jono...21d I had the answer - not properly parsed. Learnt a lot - about army signals - very clever👍

Certainly wasn’t over in a flash for me! ((rogissimo@1)
Found it a struggle and not as enjoyable as the Maskarade Easter special. FOI 9a LOI 22a COD 24a.
Agree 1d is questionable - are they real? Stuck on parsing of 22a but pretty sure I have correct answer.

dhope
For 22 the conductor might be on a train, perhaps.

Finished, early for me.

Never heard of the musical term in 25 despite years of choral singing.

Can't parse 17d: can see a couple of elements but not the first letter.

Misled myself by writing "breaking the moulds" for 8d: (Staffordshire pot banks for the "bankers"), but then solved 17a with a nudge from this forum and realised the crosser was wrong.

FOI: 2D
LOI:23D (whole SE corner was slow)
COD: perhaps 18d, which had me flummoxed for a while.

Thanks for a few little helps from various posters above!

Thanks Chrise , see it now, should have read the clue more carefully!