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My thinking was that the first 3 letters HOW were the question part of the clue

I thought 20a was edged and the misprint was t for n in itch, but I've just realised misprints and double letters don't happen in the same clue so that's wrong. 13d is a double letter one BR in the first square

Thanks Marca.
For 20A I have ewks.

. . . or I suppose it could be 'ewked'

Yes EWKED - ew(e) - docked sheep +ked- wingless fly

I can't fill in the gaps for 11D

There is a misprint in the second last word.
Village idiot (5 letters) is from a Dickens novel, with a 3 letter word meaning exhausted around it.

11d is a letter change. Mental to menial. 14d now makes sense, as an alternative spelling for hooker. Thanks. My last remaining problem is 9a ari?e. it must be arise but I don't get the parsing. Then on to the pesky letter corrections to find the message.

Thanks for the help with 11D.
I have a pretty empty top left area because I can't get 1A. I have 'pullet' for young hen, and most of the letters at the end.

It is PULL(e)T - but with a change of direction from e to s.