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Almost threw the towel in on this one and I expect a high number of DNF's.... bur we'll see. Maybe I was just not on Enigmatist's wavelength.

Still a couple I can't parse but too tired to list them.

After a quick coffee I feel energised again.

COD:- 21d - Mainly because of its surface, succinctness and the fact it didn't take me an age to solve.

I'll be very interested to hear what you all thought. Did you stick with, give up or did you find it a stroll in the park and don't know what I'm going on about.

Let us know in the comments.

Thanks to Enigmatist for a very challenging work-out.

Stay safe:-)

There is now only one clue where I'm not certain of the parsing...

9a - Ringmaster accepts vocal contributions from Simon Mayo (5)

The answer is clear and so is "ringmaster" which "accepts" 2 letters in from "vocal from Simon" - the 2 letters are in Simon and mean "of invovation" or "a cry of ??" but is that the same as "vocal"?

There must be more to it that I'm not seeing but I just can't see what!

... also still puzzled what the exact function of "arry" is in...

25a - It's a surprise to 'ear from 'arry Eliot (5)

I have the answer and can sort of understand why it's there but only if there one fewer R

Brendan, in 9a., "vocal" can mean "having a vowel function"

Typical, I spend 30 minutes looking up those two letters and virtuall every word in the definitions but didn't once look up "vocal".

Many thanks Mattrom.

Out of interest, how did you find this?

Hi Brendan...

25a - Good Heavens, I'm surprised, you are not seeing it.

This was tough. Sussed the framework from top half. That helped tremendously with the bottom.

Brendan
First time I fully appreciated this meaning of "vocal" was in an Azed puzzle themed around Spoonerisms. He said that the Spoonerisms could be either "consonantal" or "vocalic", and gave examples.

1d and 13d to top favs.

Making slow progress after taking a break.
Will work on over the weekend, on paper for a change.

Have filled in about half the grid. Looks like there could be a perimeter Nina, but that's preliminary speculation.