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Help please: there will be an extra letter in each clue.

12a: backveld contains a dry stalk here and there, then almost nothing (5) I have ?U??U
28a: no more huge drink knocked back at record speed (5) I have ?A?R?

Jogamel, I have answers that I am sure are correct - they work later - but I can't parse them!

12 A word meaning an uncultivated region
28 An old word ('no more') meaning 'huge' - it's appeared in crosswords before. Your A is wrong.

Hi jogamel/malone
12a. Bun + duc(k)
28a. One reversed + r.p.m.

12A is bun (local word for a dry stalk)+ du(c) i.e. almost nothing (duck)

28A is eno (one, i.e.'a drink' knocked back) + r(p)m

Thanks, ginge - there was so much work involved in this puzzle, I gave even less thought than usual to parsing!

PS Jogamel, I wasn't being miserly - I hoped little nudges might be enough.

I agree Malone I think the 'hints' are actually a distraction. MAaybe one or two would have been enough.

Thank you Malone Ginge and Muraria. I put the paper down when Malone hinted and realised where I was wrong. But I didn’t know that meaning of bun!
How about 35a?
Every year stick country flower in old book perhaps (5) I have ? IGLE. I can’t find a word!!!!

Hi Jogamel

It's pa (every year) + gl(u)e

Hi again jogamel, the "i" is wrong.

Jogamel, you can't find a word because your I is wrong. You need a two-letter abbreviation for 'every year' + a four-letter word for stick/paste (verb), with a letter removed.