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Oof. One four letter word in after an hour. Well and truly impaled. WIll wait for fifteensquared in a week.

Phew! Hindered by post-parkrun fatigue and helped by Chambers, I struggled to the end. This was too hard for me without dictionary suggestions. Did anyone finish this puzzle using nothing but their grey matter?

Not quite finished, but laughed out loud at 26a

21d another very funny one.

Stuck in the NE. Not sure of the ending for 11a as I can't parse either alternative, then 5a and 8d remain. I think I know what 5a is about, but I suspect it's a phrase I don't know. Any hints, please?

Hi Chris,

I too am stuck on 5a and 8d.

Funnily enough, the only bit of 11a that I can parse is the ending.

Chris
5 parses as 1 and 1,1 inside 4. Def is quirky: the last 5 words.

I don’t think you’ll like 8d (and I’m not sure I do). It’s 1 inside 6. The definition is the last word, but again there’s a quirk.

Also, I don't see how the last letter of 4d is clued.

11 parses as 3,2,2,2,1, where the second 2 is an insertion.

Simon
4d parses as 4 inserted into 3, where the 3 is a 1,1,1. In other words the last letter goes with the first two.