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Likewise “got there in the end”. The thematic resolution of the crowded cells felt a bit of an anticlimax after struggling with some very chewy clues but the use of multiple meanings of the principal thematic term was cleverly done. Thanks to The Ace of Hearts for a challenging IQ. Boy, I’m glad I didn’t embark on the same weekend’s Listener too!

Thanks to Ace of Hearts for very enjoyable puzzle.

Like, seemingly, many others, my LOI was the knotty 14a, but thanks to Buddy and Chambers I was finally able to unravel it and, as is so often the case, once I had it was hard to understand why it caused me so many problems in the first place:-)

Now onto the EV which looks like it's also going to be fun.

PS. Thanks also to Quisling for the suggestion to look up the last word of the film which, amazingly, I hadn't previously done! Rather, once I got what I thought might be a theme word, I would look that up instead.

Given that all 6 of the theme words appear in the list of 17 nouns in Chambers, I could have saved myself a lot of head scratching if I'd done it earlier. In fact, it was looking at this list of 17 nouns that enabled me to finally get the previously elusive 14a.

I'm struggling to get into this, only about one third done.
Any help for 1a and 6a would really be of benefit -or I may have to forget this one!

Hi Lumen,

1a - this is a straight anagram - definition is "pastry" but it's also thematic and extra letter is added to first word.

6a - extra letter added to "quit" which gives a 4 letter synonym but it's "abruptly" so you only want the first 3, this is followed by a 5 letter word meaning "old queen bees" (it's a common word but I had no idea it meant this) - definition is "festival gatherings" and it's also a themed clue.

Sorry Lumen, in 1a the definition is "covering pastry"

Thanks for the detailed help, Brendan, I will continue to think on those two!
Presume I have to make Teak into an anagram indicator, but can't see it.

Thanks Lumen and, yes, add a letter to 'teak' - just give it a little t...... to make it into an anagram indicator:-)

I've just worked out 6a....
Isn't that rather obscure?
Oh yes, that's why we do this!