That was pretty difficult but, that said, it was a lot of fun - at least once I got going.
Not entirely happy with "sounds" plural in 9a but I suppose it depends how you read it.
Lost count of how many times I said 9, 25, 16, 21 in my head before the penny finally came crashing down.
You're obviously a man of culture Rog, given your praise of 25,22, I know who he is but that's about it - now if you want to talk about 12a, that's a different matter 😂
7d - I'm going to check with Chris, our resident scientist, to make sure this is a "compound" - I'm sure Paul and the editor vwill have checked it but Chambers doesn't mention it in the definition.
I'm still a bit unsure how the letters between "say" and "courage" come from, presumably, "generally with" - what am I missing?
COD: Very difficult to pick one but I'm going with 5d, simply for the image it evokes.
Thanks to Paul for a real challenge but also a lot of fun.
Stay safe:-)