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Apologies for my mistake about the wiggles. I was thinking about the intermediate cells, not the final one.

I shall follow advice and cease posting for fear of misleading again.

Thanks xij, sorry I'm also floundering with 21 and 24, among others.

Well, I said I wouldn't post, but I can help with those two. 21 ends in IF (intermediate frequency). For first three letters think 'encountered'.

For 24 think computers and very large nos of bytes, begins G.

murky, it's kind of you to apologise. Most wouldn't. I was rather intemperate before my first morning coffee, so I in turn apologise for that too. But your posting did help clear up a potential area of confusion, in one of the hardest puzzles in a long while

I was beaten to it with my hints for 21 and 24, but does anyone else agree that it's a bit sneaky to clue a word which is given in an etymology but not as a head-word? Or does 'in Chambers' justify that sort of thing?

My struggle is with 8 and 9.

I solved all of the clues some time ago but can't fit together the top part of the grid. The problems arise with the entries for 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9, and particularly the first wiggle starting at 7. What makes me think my attempt is wrong is the message in the squares, which seems to begin CAED. I would be happier with CARD but cannot achieve that without breaking the rules. I have some ideas for the unclued octagons but not a lot on the unclued squares, and without the message it is hard to be sure about anything. Is it really CAED?

As you infer, foinaven, getting the message is essential. No, it's not CAED. Look again at the possible arrangements of 5

That is very useful and I can now see three words, which will perhaps mean something when I look them up in Google.

I'm definitely in the "barmy" camp with this. Any hints for 9 and 23 would be appreciated.

Reynard - think you need to be more than half barmy to get to the finish line. Definitions in 9 and 23 are 'cut off' and 'pouches' (medical term UK spelling not US) respectively - hope that helps.