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A gentle enough start to the year but some very clever letter omissions nonetheless.

Agreed; quite a lot of chewy clues and (for me, at least) quite a bit of reverse engineering: but an easier endgame with no ambiguity. Thank you, The Ace of Hearts - that short party dress looks good on you!

Not so gentle for this solver - a good two hours. Scratching my head to sort the cryptic description, not that it matters😒

Bobbybollins, 'gentle' for me usually equates to quite a lot longer than 2 hours.

BC, first two syllables a sort of party often associated with the Royal Family but a letter short, then “dress”.

Thanks, alwayspuzzled and jackaubrey😊