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Thanks, Mathi. The answer to 10 A is given - which I hadn't expected. Anyone looking in for a hint on that, or on another clue, might not expect to see an answer, a solution.

PS I seldom do the Guardian puzzle, so am quite unconcerned myself - but I've seen indignant posts before!

Simond9x, thanks for that. I was surprised to see such detailed stuff here, but if it suits the majority of the solvers/posters, it doesn't really matter.

PS. Yes, the chastisement I got before is etched on my soul!

The real spoilsport is website like the one below. They have answer banks for almost everything! Most answers appear within a day or two here, if not on the same day. Just type the clue in google and it will lead to this website first. It quite disgusting and takes the fun out in solving. Many solvers upload answers quickly to other sites also.

http://www.danword.com/

Mathi - yes, I've seen that website before. My query was more in the nature of some idle musing, remembering previous discussion (some of it quite heated!) on the Forum.

Help please with the parsing of 26 and 16.

For 16d, look up the names of top 10 popular dark Irish stout or beer and remove three letters in it.

In 26a, small hear is S. It is a beam or support.

26a, small here is s.

Thank you, Mathi.

HI everyone

I've been having a lot of trouble getting started with this crossword and after looking through the forum have found the fairly explicit answers to at least three clues. I'm pleased to have got them, but on the whole prefer hints and nudges. I'll now see how many more I can get without help.

Nearly finished, just three in the top left hand corner to do - 1d, 2d and 11ac. I think I have an answer for 2d, but can't parse it.

1d Tree competitor polled (4) I have ?C??
2d Book fair, fair! (6) I have ?R???T
11ac Jamaican music, pattern of notes around ghetto originally (5) ????A

I'm assuming the Jamaican music might be Ska, but I've just got 1d so 11ac begins with an R, so maybe its a corruption of reggae.