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Hi Gitto and Smithsax. My apologies, Gitto, maybe I was confusing you for S_Pugh, for having hare nightmares. Or maybe you both did...

I colour-coded the extra letters, so I'm pretty sure that I have this right. There are 18 extra letters; of which 5 appear in the perimeter. You're correct that the rest all appear in targets, in fact 3 of the perimeter ones also do.

You're both right about the hare. It is used but not in a mammalian form. The ten targets are indeed of a very specific kind.

Thanks Meursault, I've only just come to this page after completing the puzzle moments ago after an evening of immense sadness - your comment brought a smile for a welcome change. I even chuckled at clue two - tell me that wasn't an accidental entry!

For anyone struggling I'm happy to say that once you get the hang of the glancing deflections the whole thing fits together perfectly logically, it's just a matter of going for it and making adjustments as they become necessary. Getting the perimeter phrase early helped a lot as it gave several initial letters, and identifying targets also helped with some back solving notably the second of 21dn.

A very tough but fair puzzle.

As so often, I come here looking only for help with parsing. I've completed the puzzle, noted 2 (S_Pugh, surely you mean 'Don't tell me that *was* accidental'!) and found all the thematic material - but I've no idea how 'Montgomery kindred' works and I can't find ILL SEEN in Chambers or Collins, and don't know hown it can be made to fit the clue.

Inadvertent double negative! An eye for Scottish folk I think is what is indicated. If you look up ill seen under 'see' as opposed to 'ill' you should find the fit (equals ill versed).

Ionacarr, I can help with 27 (first part) : 'In ignorance' is the definition, view homophone of 'seen'. 'Ill seen' is in my 2008 TCD, but under 'see' first entry (right at the bottom of the entry).

18 - I assume is 'Upsee', but I have no idea about the parsing.

Thanks, S_Pugh, I understand 18 (first part) now.

Thanks, s_pugh. I suppose Montgomery had to be chosen to fit with Alabama, but it made me think first of Wales and then of Monty. Putting ILL SEEN under 'see' is the sort of thing that Chambers usually backs up with a cross-reference, but you can't have everything.

I appear to have only 56 cells to highlight, unless I use different colours for different targets, in which case there are 61. Am I missing something? And I am not at all happy about the second definition in 10. Not, according to me, a Frank.

Hi, Fiona Ven,

I suspect that you have only a five-letter word as one of the targets, in the column headed by clue number 9. However, there’s a ten-letter possibility in that column, if you look closely, which will give you your extra five letters.

And apologies to foinaven for the misnaming, due to the autocorrect! Is there a way of switching it off?