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Seems as though I usually start threads for the Speccie, possibly because my Antipodean location gives me a head start. So here goes. Another fairly gentle offering, with some wry smiles here and there. The additional wrinkle was not too hard to find.

Thanks, BuzzyBee. I liked your 'possibly'!

PS A fine, apparently error-free puzzle.

I note that 19d can be found in Chambers under the second word, though I was pleased to be able to put my newly acquired Brewer to use for the first time!

thanks Fieldfare - the keyword and most of the definitions apply to this puzzle - a pleasant gentle solve

In the recent “crossword peeves” thread I mentioned the use of “extremely” as a selection indicator for outside letters (an example of which we see here) as one of mine.

Azed agrees… in the 1186 slip he wrote - “I have noticed a growing tendency among crossword setters to use “extremely” to indicate the first and last letters of the following (or preceding) word, but can see no justification for it.

“Extremely” means “in an extreme way; very” and I can’t equate that with an instruction to the solver to take the extreme letters of a word.”