Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

All done (largely down to hints from here - usual thanks apply) apart from a couple of parsing mysteries:
20ac - Cuddle, I take as pet, or fondle, and an 'i' comes out from somewhere, but can't make much sense of the rest of it.

41ac - OSS?. Ossa for mouth is not in my BRB, but I can't find anything else

Of course I might be missing another clash or 2....

20a. cod + (i)dle (whip the cat)
41a. G(ossi)p

Thanks Ginge, out of my misery at last (or I will be if a Nundah is a bird). That page of my Chambers has probably worn away by now.
Never heard of 'whip the cat', nor has my 90-year-old mum, but then she's forgotten a lot. Also not sure about Ossis being that old. Quite a few still about, but it's sort of in the book so there you go.
A pity it won't be a numbers one this week, I fancy a rest.

pka1 - nundah isn't a bird ... but nhandu is ;-)

Thanks Smartie, I had got there. Luckily its main entry in the book is under Nandu, so I was found it quicker than I might have done.
If I ever get another cat it will be called Whip....

Finally got there after plodding on all week. Only my view, but possibly the highlight of the year for me so far. Took me many, many hours but always enjoyable, all the clues were tight, no ambiguities, no lengthy grid stare. Absolutely top notch.

All done, but I am left with a 'word' at 6dn for which I can find no justification in C. What am I missing?

6d answer is reeling - eel inside ring. The r and e go in first square as part of the bird (heron).

Thanks, Smartie, but my query related to the grid entry resulting from the substitution of the initial H, i.e."heling". What does that mean?

Hi Tony - Spenserian or dialectic verb form meaning hiding or concealing - from the verb 'hele'. Not exactly in common speech I'll grant you!