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fair enough!!

Hidden gems - If you read across lines 1,3,5,7 etc you'll find 6 hidden examples of 25ac.

Coming late to this, have everything now except parsing for 8a. I've _o-_u_h_r, which suggests this term for 'second pen', rather than _o-_r_t_r (as in paperback ...) which I thought of first - I just can't 'refine' any heraldic tincture term to get the needed letters. The letter 'h' for the 3d crosser is also causing diffs, as 3d would be h_h_m, which I thought was always hyphenated between 2nd & 3rd...? Staring too long, so if you had another hint I'd be most grateful.

Check here for the 'Tincture'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tincture_(heraldry)

Term for a "second pen"
first 6 letters : a word for "refined" with "a" inserted. Last 2 letters - " gold"

jazzlover42 @62
Good spot!

Thanks cerasus, I'd been reading the first two words of the clue as 'anag of a shade not in clue' for all letters except 'a', rather than two straight defs. Letters all make sense once I stop thinking about 20d... But am I right in thinking 3d is being used without a hyphen, or is that off-track too?

I would normally hyphenate 3d

Thanks Chrise, that's reassuring. I've also seen it separated by a comma.
Definitely a bit of a slog this time, but some lovely clues, 25 & 26 especially.

@ jazzlover42

I can see the 25a in line 3 but none of the others so far.