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It took me some time to find the change to 1a, which is in a less narrow category than the other two.

Hello, anyone still reading.
Checking through, I realise that I have not parsed 3D and 9D. In both cases, I have the grid entry and the (corrected) definition.
Can someone hint as regards in which sense the `lady' is leading in 3D, and what kind of `ore' I'm looking for in 9D?
Thanks.

3D - the kind that leads an empire.

9D - an example of ‘look up every word in Chambers even if you know the definition perfectly well’.

Liquid noun definition 2 is ‘ A flowing consonant sound, such as l or r (phonetics)’… with ‘ nt’ being short for not.

Thanks for your patient explanations.
3D: I feel very silly now---I hadn't considered the idea of dropping something from the front of the word, and spent ages trawling through words beginning with `p'.
9D: I'd got the `nt', but you have taught me something new about `liquid', so I'm much obliged.