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brendan

9th August 2025, 19:41
5a - 'an itinerant mender of kettles and pans etc. (the vessels)'
- Chambers
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ilippu

9th August 2025, 21:52
rogissimo

Just noticed the puzzle number is incorrect....
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norah (admin)

10th August 2025, 06:27
Ilippu, thanks. The puzzle number has now been corrected.
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nelliegee

10th August 2025, 10:24
We really enjoyed this one, having never seen anything like it before. Began by putting 21a in the space for 11a, then noticed those two clues were identical. And several others were too. Then read it fully. Took a while to get 13/8, and only after spotting what 9a and 23a must be. Those two were my COD. Still not sure on parsing of 7d, but happy it's right and delighted we finished it.
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pamd

10th August 2025, 11:46
Finished, after reading the forum, where a couple of tiny nudges worked wonders: roof's mention of heads set me on the way to12, even before the more explicit help in a later clue.

I struggled with 13/8 because first I guessed "engineering" for 8, as an 11-letter business process! Then twigged the first part of 13 but thought of "blind" for next part.

Foi: 11a, but then rubbed it out on finding 21a. Had it wrong, ie had written the 21a answer.
Loi: 2d: the whole N w corner came last .. ah no, 17d, 25d were actually the last pair.

At one point I thought it was exasperatingly difficult, but the cleverness of it outweighs that ( now that I've finished). Rather a splendid puzzle, thanks Brendan.

Is this Brendan the same Brendan who is a regular here? I hadn't spotted the matching name!
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pamd

10th August 2025, 11:50
Forgot to ask: what's the US history to justify 10a? I put in a US state which fitted the crossers, so "in US".
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brendan

10th August 2025, 11:53
Hi Pam,

I'm glad you enjoyed the puzzle but, alas, I can't claim any credit. I'm not Brendan the setter:-)
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geeker

10th August 2025, 12:02
Brendan the setter resides on the US West Coast.

https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2013/03/interview-brian-greer.html

[I thought there was a "Meet the setter" link to the Guardian site but couldn't find one]
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jono

10th August 2025, 12:03
Pam, re 10d the most credible explanation seems to be the order in which they became States.
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geeker

10th August 2025, 12:30
Strongly agree with jono @59 on 10. I consider the clue completely reasonable on that basis.
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