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All finished and all (bar one part of a clue) parsed. FOI 14a LOI 1a

Found the southern half much easier. Thoroughly enjoyable - thanks to my namesake and also to those involved with the thread.

Can someone explain how (if?) the last word of 9d could mean ‘corner’? I’m assuming I’m incorrect in this as it makes no sense (yet my answer must be correct).

As in "corner the market"?

Took the advice given here and gave up yesterday and came back today . Finally finished with some help here, have never been a fan of Paul but have enjoyed the challenge . Agree with ypu rocky persevere and it gets easier once you are halfway! Still some to parse but I’m happy with answers.
FOI 6 LOI 27 there are quite a few COD contenders eg 19 brilliant, 26, 6 and 10.
Why chestnut in 1a , totally lost as to parsing of 24a and significance of cocktail after 23 reportedly.
Gardeners will be pleased it’s raining!

I said earlier that the cherry and chestnut weren't needed.

If you say out loud 23,24, it sounds a bit (!) like a cocktail, which would be 4,6

Thanks Chrise yes I get the cocktail now.

Came to the forum with about 6 unsolved, and the gentle nudges (like reading out 23a to get 24) have helped me get down to one and a half unsolved.

26a: happy with the 4, ... and as I type, the Rubber Duck Effect plus other people's mention of baseball combined to give me the full answer, verified by googling!

Just leaves 19: I have all the crossers but no ideas. ... Yes, I've now got the answer and, after a bit more thinking, can understand the definition too.

So finished, by Sunday afternoon.

Some very clever stuff in there. I liked 28, though in general I don't like chains of clues where you probably can't solve this one until you've solved that one.

Foi: 14
Loi: 19
CoD: 28, 29/12, 1a (took a long time to parse: had forgotten about chess)

One left, and it happens to be 19a. Perhaps a small hint might help.
Otherwise, a hugely entertaining battle.

The jacket isn't one you wear

Not easy to give hint but think of word for piercing cry , remove first letter and add to pronoun for us (Guardian readers) to get four letter word , Hope this helps . I’m not the best at explaining parsing!

Thanks. I think I have it.
Norwegian Edward’s creation gaining a cockney chunk of time, perhaps?