Hi Everybody
I was worried when I saw it was Brendan. I got four on first read through, but couldn't put 11 and 21ac in without crossers (more birds and less football please). But I got 22ac but couldn't get it's pair. I've got it now, but can't parse it together with a lot of others. I ended up cheating to get 13/8. I can't parse it and would never have got it otherwise. I had to cheat on another couple as well - sometimes to check I'd got the right answer and sometimes to put me out of my misery.
I've only half parsed 12ac and 18ac. I've got the "heads", but have extra letters to explain. I'd never heard of 7d, but got it from my book of synonyms.
My FOI was 11ac and 21ac, but not written in. My first write in was 22ac. LOI was 5ac, though I don't understand "who works on vessels etc". COD is 14d.
Roger, I hope you have a good holiday in the Pyrenees. I spent a sweltering fortnight in the foothills near Mirepoix some years ago. If you hadn't done it by 11.00am it was too late. We spent much of our time sitting alongside a pool in a stream to cool our feet! It wasn't my most enjoyable holiday in France.