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Thanks ,Malone, that was all I needed! I still have none of the message, but I have the 30 cells

Can someone please explain the Jethro Tull parse?

As a relative newbie I would also say that the clues were equally as tough as normal but all simplified because of no irregularities. I do find it refreshing, rewarding and encouraging when such comes along and I can do it, even if I do have to resort to a few look up aids.

Hi rrrobbo,

Take the vowels (“vocals”) from “Jethro Tull” and put them inside SET (“items from a gig”).

I’m away for the weekend so I was glad to have a straightforward puzzle that I could do without my usual reference books.

Ah. Clever. I like this one more now I have done the end game. One of my favourites too. Seen them twice - the first time in a circus tent in Landskrona, Sweden with my eldest son - his first gig. So few people we could touch the stage. Great show. Then at Holcolme Hall, marred by it getting too cold for their fingers to do more than one encore and the horrific queues on access and departure. My second son's first gig too. I would not say they are converts, but they will always remember the day their Dad took them to see someone even older than him boogie-woogie 8-)

Another poorly worded preamble in that case. There is nothing there to indicate that it's the letter preceding the first occurrence of ANY of the letters in the answer that is required, as opposed to A (specific but unspecified) shared letter, eg for 1a one of S, W, P or A.

Looks pretty unambiguous to me...... "the first occurrence of a letter shared with its answer".

In 1a, the first occurrence of a letter shared with its answer is 'a' so the required letter must be 's'.

I too don't think the preamble was 'poorly worded', it seemed quite clear.

Certainly at the simpler end of the spectrum in the last year but still very enjoyable. Clever method of finding the hidden letters. I have however hit a snag with 11a which I feel I am overthinking. I have NE_C_P and can’t seem to make a leap... any help would be appreciated.

Charlesberg - Your last letter should be 'N' not 'P' - so damaged indicates ananagram of 'once' plus 2 letter synonym for 'close to' - the defn is a very right-wing US politician