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Well, I can see a possibility for the 3 letter synonym for 'pch' (starting with the vowel) but Chambers has a slightly different phonetic symbol for its first letter to that of the penultimate syllable of the answer (phonetcally, the answer doesn't sound the 't', so the final syllable works fine).
However, this doesn't seem to improve the surface reading very much, if at all. In fact I'm slightly happier with the synonymous ''?n? p??ch'' (for ''a ...'') than I am with the phonetic ''?n ?p?ch'', which would suggest ''an ...'' for the last two syllables.

That said, many of the 'clues' here are meticulous, so the doubts about this one suggests there's a better idea altogether, so a further hint from you would be very helpful (if you have another idea).

It's particularly tortuous discussing this puzzle - I think this will be my last contribution (apart from 'thank you'!).

Sorry, jimm89 - I took so long composing that! I should have waited a bit longer for your reply.

Yes, that's what I thought you were getting at but I'm still not convinced (for the reasons I've already mentioned).
I think we might have to wait until the solution comes out for this one (although I'm slightly warming to your idea as your phonetic treatment of the answer improves the reading somewhat - and I think 'sounds like' clues are always problematical!).

Thanks for getting back to me (andI hope your 'spelling it out' quite so clearly isn't frowned upon!).

Sorry - I avoided spelling it out in my first post but then did so upon request

...sorry (this should be my last!) as we've blown this clue/answer I might as well spell out my problem with the surface -

Why would it be game for an auditor to back an era? He might just as well back a peach?

I'm sorry jimm89 - I wasn't expecting as much detail as you gave but I should have been more careful with my request (no more from me - unless further apologies are needed).

If you mean what sense does the clue have as a whole, I don't know :) but obviously epoch fits better than peach with what we have.

jimm89 - you keep drawing me in!

I don't see why, because 'peach' can be many things, some might even need 'support' be desired or be despised. 'Game' in the sense of this sentence is fairly ambiguous too - but 'epoch' is really only one thing and I don't think it sits happily in this context.

Ha, apologies. I think we're always replying one post behind. I meant it fits better in the sense that it yields a plausible answer. I agree that in terms of reading the clue it is tricky follow.

You can "support an epoch" but you can't "support an peach".
Meanwhile I'm still stuck on the very bottom righthand corner. I suppose 26 down is a 6 letter synonym of "hates" but I have no clue what the definition of 27 down is nor what the first two words in 29 across might be.

yes - 26d definition is hates. Presume you know the TV fthr, so you need to put a (child's) word for hrs inside. 29 is discussed earlier in the thread - the cl word is revealed. Definition is sld.
What I don't like about era is it puts the stress on the second syllable of the game which is quite wrong. Still working on that ...