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Hurrah - a Listener crossword I can actually finish unaided!

s_pugh - what a wonderful show that was (did you know that Eddie's middle name was Elizabeth lol?)

For once a puzzle I could do unaided - a pleasure.

All done except for 12ac. A?or?a
I’d be grateful for a hint
Ta

The river is a short one, beloved of crossword setters. The 'song' is also a traditional word. One's inside the other.

Song in wordplay is aria and a 2 letter river is contained within it.

Thanks Malone and djawhufc. I get the word play now, and I found that answer from a word search but I felt that the definition I have for that only obliquely fits dire straits.

I tend to agree, Eschenmoser. My TCD gives for aporia "a professed doubt of what to say or to choose; a difficulty." Then for dire, "dreadful, extremely, calamitous, urgent, portentous." Though there is no entry for dire straits, you'd think that the definition of dire still applies. In which case we are talking more than just a 'difficulty', more like a 'dreadful difficulty'.

The definition is not 'Dire Straits'; it's 'Maybe Dire Straits'. That 'maybe' makes the definition acceptable to me and I appreciate Encota's subterfuge using a well-known band name.

Just finished off the last few this morning. I agree entirely with murky. Easy but not ridiculously so and some nice clues (I liked stuff spat out and 31.4n) but the grid - dear oh dear. It’s a monstrosity.