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Number of letters not known , clues given in alphabetical order ....these are early on...
1.Out to lunch ignoring first host
2. M, once head of espionage married old woman

..this is last in the alphabeticals..
3. Wit bound for the history books

Hi kirky,
1. (b)army
2. E(spionage) + m + ma, Emma old signaller's "M"
3. Salt, double definition, the second a variant of sault (obsolete leap)

Thanks ginge ...will plod on!

The small number of posts must mean that everybody found this puzzle easy. I haven't!
I have solved most of the clues including the critical 4 down. This evidently affects the across answers the intersect, but I cannot see for the life of me how. Could anyone give me a hint? I'd like to complete and then take a break to watch the annual humiliation of my rugby team.

Could I again thank those who have helped me over the year. Is anyone (Ginge? Malone?) going to the AZED event at Oxford in May? If so I'd like to thank you in person.

Hi williamseal, once again thanks for the acknowledgement, I'm only too glad that you find my comments helpful. I won't be at the event in Oxford and incidentally Azed is one of the puzzles I don't do.
You're spot on that entries that traverse the amended 4d are affected. If you use the mechanical definition of the amended 4d things should become clearer.
For example a 10 letter answer is split into 2 5s. The first 5 letters entered in the LHS of a row where it fits; the 5th letter intersecting with 4d and the 2nd 5 letters entered with the 6th letter of the answer also entered where it intersects with 4d but a different row. Hope this helps.

I have come to this very late having been away until yesterday evening. So far I have 20 answers including the key 4 down and can just about see the method of entry for the across answers. However Word Wizard etc give nothing when I enter the letters which I think are in the 4 down column. I don't yet have 1 down (Wading bird picked up drink round inlet, mostly - 6 - Curlew?) or 7 down (Discharge for one on awareness program - 5 - Egest?) Those two might help me position the across answers I have. Any hints would be more than welcome.

Hi alwayspuzzled, 7d is egest but 1d is not curlew; (a curtailed synonym of inlet in a drink) reversed.
I have outlined the entry method in my reply to williamseal should you need to refer to it.

the wading bird is AVOCET ... tea round cov(e) all reversed

I’ve completed the puzzle, but I am having difficulty parsing 5, 7and 12 down. I see the relevance of the last three letters of 7d. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi casanova,
5d ide(a) => (a)ide
7d for one, as an example of, eg
12d Ravel being French so his is = est within set (dance movement)