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...sorry rad, 29 ends with L, not the 'sound of the letter L' as I suggested.

Thanks ginge, got the 'Eagle' and the written within now, I had the other 5 letter word beginning and ending with 'E' in the wrong place displacing the Eagle! Still need the other two.

Hi again bigf, if you have the entries for the other 4/5 thematics can't you work backwards given the limited possibilities for the remaining 2 grid entries ? I'll happily provide the clue answers but I don't want to take away your "Eureka" moment.

rad - I gave it up as unsatisfactiory as you suggest

drxx - I agree with you about poor clues. Pity, they have been excellent in the last couple of months

Yes jigjag - we had a good run for a while.

If anyone’s still doing this I would suggest starting to fill the grid even with a lot of clues unsolved. It falls into place quite easily. A primary school book called First Aid in English had all these, as a child I loved learning them.

Hi again ginge. Thankyou for your help. I have not been able to respond as I have had problems with the Internet. All completed now, don't know about my 'Eureka' moment, more a feeling I'm glad it's over!

Bigf: You have perfectly expressed my feelings. I too am grateful for the help received here, and have completed the grid - correctly, I hope, though not 100% sure as there are several details which I am not fully convinced about. I won’t go into them now, partly because I don’t feel the puzzle can stand such scrutiny, and partly because I would probably be giving too much away and spoiling people’s Eureka moment. I hope I am not being mean, because despite everything this puzzle has brought me some enjoyment.

In addition to all the weaknesses in this puzzle which have been mentioned on this thread, I feel that the key words in the preamble, MORE and EXPANSIONS, are quite incorrect and do not indicate what was intended. I don’t think I can suggest anything better offhand, but setters usually manage to find a way to “say what they mean” without giving the game away. Thank you, Drxx, for steering me away from extensions without giving too much away!

Rad, I'm sorry you didn't find my hints helpful but you only had to ask for further clarification. It is difficult to know how much to reveal and you've talked yourself about not spoiling people's eureka moment by giving away too much.

And for the record, it's not ORATORIO, but ONER (Geordie = someone from the north-east - NE) but I think you know that by now.

orson

Yes I think your hints are the right level. You have certainly helped me in the past and would have done on this one if I had not abandoned it.