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I did return after some distractions and have done about half. I've now read through the thread and may get some more from the hints. But I'm not that hopeful. I shall stop for dinner soon (my husband cooks on Saturdays). But Vlad is extremely hard. If I had to Rank him (not the answer to 8d),he'd be off the bottom of my scale. I haven't touched the NW corner yet.

Hi Roof. Been a beautiful day today so no harm making the most of it. I think you should revist post dinner or while your husband is cooking. I find Vlad really difficult but somehow more fulfilling when you beat him.

Hi Roof
1a and 2d were write-ins for me......but the rest wasn't!

I'm like plutocrat @ 11 - impaled. Struggled for hours for 9 answers.

Way out of my league.

It's not Philo.

Keep going. You'll get the gist of all of them eventually and most of all just ask for a few hints here. That's all I do when I get stuck.

Hi Rocky

I got answers for them all, but cheated on a few . I can't fully parse 5a,10ac, 11ac, 12ac, 27ac,3d, 3d, 8d, 20d and 25d (never heard of). Please don't explain them - there are too many.

Most of them I can partially parse. Usually, I get the definition and then try and work out the parsing.

FOI 23ac, LOI 12ac and COD 26ac and 19ac.

Please no more Vlad or Brockwell for a few weeks.

For what it’s worth at this late stage, I agree with quisling re Hackney. There would have had to be more in the clue to indicate the niche street, whereas the animal fits the description without more.