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roof

7th March 2026, 18:13
I haven't seen Boatman for some time and recalled him/her as a difficult setter for me. In the event I was surprised at the number of easy ones that I filled in on first read-through. Then I got a few more until I arrived at the impenetrable ones. I have answers for all the clues, but was unable to fully parse several:
12ac - I don't understand the explanation given above
22ac
24ac - what has the disgraced president got to do with the answer?
29ac I still can't parse this despite the thread
7d - thanks for the explanation on thread
16d
25d - I'm not sure what the acronym is

There were a couple of answers that I had to google as I'd nver heard of them.
FOI 10ac closely fo;;owed by 19ac, LOI 25d and CODs13ac, 26ac, 3d and 24d
I can't see the theme
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geeker

7th March 2026, 18:21
24a: the famous (at least in USA, but I think he was a Brit) interviewer of the ("tricky") disgraced former president figures in the solution.
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roof

7th March 2026, 18:25
Thanks Geeker. I got that he was a tough interviewer, but couldn't remember him interviewing an American president.
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rogerm

7th March 2026, 18:28
roof
There was a play about it, which was made into a film in 2008. Worth watching, as I recall.
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geeker

7th March 2026, 18:30
29a: If you do the Everyman puzzles, "Laa-Laa" is an example of one of Everyman's trademark clue devices (12 letters). Remove the leading 3 letters (a synonym of "every"), and you have the solution (defn. is "repeat").
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rogerm

7th March 2026, 19:01
Geeker
Yes, he was a Brit, and very famous in this country as well. An extraordinary career alternating dizzyingly between serious journalism, satire and light entertainment.
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grum

7th March 2026, 19:56
Thanks for all your comments- interesting reading as always. My LOI is 22a. Only two words seem to go with the crossers, but I'm not sure which answer or how the parsing works. Any hints?
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geeker

7th March 2026, 19:59
22a: definition "drop price", parses as 4 ("pile") inside 3 (three-quarters of a 4-letter monetary unit).
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grum

7th March 2026, 20:02
Ahh thank you Geeker. But it means I have 22d wrong! Back to work then!
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chrise

7th March 2026, 20:28
I thought 22d was rather unspecific. My guess seems to have been right, but I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't other possibles.
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