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I was in exactly the same position, Wigwam, and eventually stumbled on another one beginning with A.

Does it do double duty as a name? That's the only thing I can feasibly see but it now depends on how you define the perimeter.

Getting concerned here!

It’s well and truly inside the decagon, but it does overlap another word featured in the endgame.

Aha, if it's (6) then I'll be relieved and it's not one I can say I've ever come across.

If not, well it wouldn't be the first time this thread I thought I'd finished...

Yes it’s 6 letters beginning with A. Sounds like you are done.

Took a while but I enjoyed this. Enjoyed the unusual clue types and I found I didn’t have to cold solve too many before i could start fitting them into the grid. Didn’t figure out what the definition was of until I looked on here.

Clever construction. Very good.

After a late start and much battling I seem to have a full grid which satisfies all of the preamble requirements. However, I am still trying to understand 8D.

I have some stripey things and a small amount but the "consecutive jumble" does not seem to work. The relevant bit seems to be "ize rats as bo" but this yields an 's' too many. If this is the clue with the extra word (or phrase) being the wordplay for the "rising of the sun" then I do not understand what it is. Where does "trembles" come in? Where am I going wrong? I cannot feel that I have finished the puzzle until I fully understand it.

Any help would be appreciated (I've still got Christmas cards to write!)

Hi thepost, rats reversed is rising of the sun; se)ize as boar t(rembles

Thank you ginge - it's so simple - how on earth did I not see it? Advancing years?

I'm pleased I did this one: my first DLM. I found it *really* slow to start: I don't really like definition-only, and the fact that the third section of each clue only *contained* the jumbles thinned the clue help away a bit. I needed a few hints from here (thanks!) to help me locate the first few definitions, but I was intrigued how once I started to slot them into the grid the pace really picked up. I was lucky, and stumbled across the name of the genus, hence Latin name, of the second titular plant and so spotted the line that needed a letter changed, and that gave the idea away so I guessed what word might be defined: my second guess was right! It's right that part of the highlight is a looped item: it is, after all, of them all, the one that does what it does!

There are a few things I thought were awkward, which spoil an otherwise well-crafted puzzle for me:

1) there are two possible routes for the definition at the SW corner, and you have to use the fact it's a "decagon" to choose which to use: a bit persnickety that.

2) there are two occurrences of one of the nine items, and you have to use the fact that they are in "nine distinct rows and columns" to choose which to use -- which you can only do once you find all the others! A bit mean that.

3) as murky pointed out, the preamble is not quite accurately phrased: the highlight is a cryptic representation only of the SECOND of the two key lines of the carol, while the decagon and the nine looped items embody the first of the two lines and provide the context -- that is so cleverly done, and such a pleasing device, that it's a shame that this minor editorial slip slightly detracts from it.

But, hey, I got there -- and I'm glad to see we're given a few extra days so there's a chance I can still post it off! Only now can I dare open today's....!