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Having counted round the perimeter and got two down I was confident where it was leading but the anagrams threw me. As usual I had skimmed the preamble and missed the crucial word. Some time later the penny dropped, first assumption was correct. Nice bit of misdirection of the careless.

Yes, nice puzzle but I am having trouble parsing 9a, Weed with shoot and bit of leaf (7, hyphened). I make it (4-3) but no sign of such a weed in TCD. Am I going down a blind alley?

Also, 18a: One fifth of journos worry about columns (5). I am pretty sure the definition is columns and what should go in the light, but cannot make head or tail of the clue.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can enlighten me.

18 One = a, then fifth of journos = the fifth letter +a usual three letter synonym for 'worry'. (Worry is 'about', so reverse the synonym').

9 A. Weed is the definition for the first part of the answer - the answer itself is a 'bit of leaf'.

Thank you Malone. So I'm now happy with 18a but think I may be adrift with 9a. I have D_I_T_P. Is my D wrong? Thanks!

....I think I've got it now. Was off course owing to another word meaning 'shoot'. Thank you.

Piffleworthy, glad I could help.

Help please
Have I done something wrong or can 26 down be either a
ADDER or ADRED ?

Adder is the correct answer.

Many thanks Daniel
I suppose 'adred' is a bit obscure ?