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Hi Ang
I got into it by ignoring the 7 letter ones until quite a bit of the grid was completed - quite a lot of the longer ones and the 6 letter ones could be placed fairly confidently.

Ah I think a light has come on... so if the third letter of the B clue across is R, then one of the R clues fits there and the other fits somewhere else in the grid? I think its time I took up knitting as a hobby instead!

Yes
When I do these, I list all the clues by letter count. When I know where each one is (even if I don't know the solution) I put a tick by it. When I have a few solutions, it becomes more obvious that there are places where they won't fit; when I get down to only one place it can fit, I write it in!

(Not yes to the knitting!)

Haha! Thanks ChrisE. I have done them in the past, but its these darned double clues that have confused my poor old brain. As for the knitting no hope there either, I couldn't sort out the pattern!!

Help please. I'm being particularly slow on the uptake today. Where precisely does the B from Bartholomew go?

Top left - imagine it is 1 across.

I'm getting bored with this one, I'm afraid. I've no problem with the special instructions or the jigsaw format (I used to enjoy Araucaria's and use exactly the same approach as that outlined by chrise above using letter counts, etc). However, as he also said, some of the cluing is too loose to be sure I've got the right answers. Is the first F what I think it is? It's not an expression I've heard of. Is the second J really that? I've got several of the theme answers but still haven't spotted the theme itself.

I seem to remember not particularly enjoying Maskarade's last year either.

Hi simond9x
The secondary theme isn't all that subtle, as far as I can see, although some are rather obscure. Not the best holiday puzzle, I agree.

Thanks chrise. I've put it to one side for now, may come back to it. Have a good Christmas.