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Thanks again everyone for taking part, especially AB who kindly formatted the Explanation & Wordplay notes this month for us.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57742443/9-September%20Joint%20Effort/The%20Joint%20Effort%20September%20Solution.pdf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57742443/9-September%20Joint%20Effort/September%20Joint%20Effort%20wordplay%20file.pdf

Cheers, Les40

Thanks again to Les for taking time from his busy schedule to provide us with this delightful puzzle, and to all the the contributors for the increasingly challenging clues.

Also, thanks to AB for this month's wordplay. Very nice & easy to read.

Stars, alphabetically. Top 5, but had about a dozen.

1A (A), 4D (C), 6A (E), 10D (I), 12D (L).

Well done, all.

Thank you very much, Les, for all your hard work and to AB for his work on the wordplay files. What is &Lit please?
I only completed less than half,which was a bit disheartening, but I shall go on trying.
Star clues?
12 d (L), 26 d (B),16ac (V) 25d (J)
Probably because I (eventually) got them!

I was wondering if there is any merit in the following idea, to help the "differently abled" (!!)
We each supply a hint to our clues (which, if possible, Les could edit/OK)? After about 4/5 days, a hints list could appear to help the struggling. Fewer emails for Les to answer, too.

Morning rosalind,

& Lit Clues

The term & lit. is a contraction of "and literally so". It refers to a special type of cryptic clue - one which consists of a cryptic indication of the solution but which contains no definition part. Instead, the clue as a whole functions as the definition.

If this is not immediately clear, an example. Consider the following clue for VILE:

Terribly evil (4)

Here we have a a simple cryptic indication: anagram indicator (terribly) and anagram fodder (evil). But the whole clue also functions as a straightforward definition of the solution.

Many cryptic crossword devotees regard the & lit clue with particular veneration. Such clues are not encountered every day, because devising a good original & lit clue is no easy task. Here are a few more examples:

Angered? Awfully! (7)

Some insane Roman (4)

Some careless language (5)

An eccentric without a bit of decorum is seen (6)

One's cold to walk over (6)

Exercising charity's in it (12)

Your clue for 2 down was &lit because the whole clue was the DEF, and that's why I added the '?' because &lit clues qualify for a question mark. My 12 down was &lit because 'find a hidden meaning' was the DEF and the indicator for the hidden (contained) wordplay.

Your other request is up to the forum setters and solvers.

Les40

Thanks, Les, very clear and some great clues there.

Many thanks Les. I managed about 2/3 of the answers. 4 of the 5 mentioned by syzzy were unsolved. A great institution.

Thanks again, Les, and AB for providing such a clear explanation. I had a few ?s which are now cleared up.

So many good ones, but my favourites were AB's 23ac, bobs mum's 54ac, Paul's 24dn, BBM2's 26dn and jamoza's 27dn. My Gold Medal winner though is Les's 12dn. I really like its dingbatiness.

I agree with peterm....12d is superb! Nice job Les on that and the puzzle :)