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Well exactly Rog. Perfectly described. Therein lay my dilemma.

Just two left now. 16d for which I have two possible answers but not seeing the bark reference and 26a which should arrive in the fullness of time.

Bark is an alternative spelling. It has nothing to with trees, or dogs!

Thanks, Rocky!
The bark is another example of the deceptions referred to by nikonian at #23

Well I got 26a so put 16 in anyway. I did look up bark in Chambers to see if there was a ref I didn't know but it didn't yield anything.

FOI 2d. LOI 16 obviously.

COD I think has to be 20d for the nerve of the use of 10a. Thanks Brendan. The second half went in much faster than the first.

Hi again Rocky
I only have access to online dictionaries at the moment as I’m travelling, but if you look up bark on Merriam-Webster and scroll all the way down you get the apposite definition.

Thanks Rog. Bit cheeky of Brendan but that's what it's all about.

Thanks to Brendan.

My only query/reservation is the use of "wood from elsewhere" - even barred puzzles, considered by many to be the pinacle of cryptic crosswords, usually make a more specific reference. For example, "European articles" as wordplay for "under" but here, we're given 'elsewhere'!

No one else seems bothered by it so it would seem my misgivings are my own but, neverthless, I thought I'd mention it anyway.

It is, after all, the purpose of this Forum:-)

"... be the pinnacle"

Finished, very early for us, before looking at forum but you have clarified a couple where we didn't understand the parsing (I thought 4d involved an exotic 2-letter tree, but struggled with 5th & 6th letters, and couldn't parse the middle 5 letters of 18d). Nicely subtly thematic, and must have been easier than usual.

Foi: 9a
Loi: 5d

I too felt it was a bit loose Brendan. Sometimes they even use famous people from the country as a clue. I don't know if I'd have got that as quickly without the hints on here.