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Thanks, rad - you're very kind.
The name started as drx but I messed up and had to re-register, so the extra 'x' came in (dr = my initials and that was already in use, hence 'drx'). So, not 'doctor', but now, with that extra 'x' I can't help being reminded of an old song about 'doctor kiss kiss' - which is unfortunate!

Thanks drxx - silly of me. it's evidently not the case that all single letters which move go to Ring 6, although almost all do. I still have an ambiguity in 25 about the 4th and 5th letters in the answer. One moves, but which? 99% now - no, make that 98.5%.

Sorry, merenz -I've just seen your question re the single letter moves. Yes, they move right to the end (but I'm sure you've already discovered that).

...although, as cockie says - not necessarily right to the end! That depends on their relative 'values'. So look out for a couple of subtleties, merenz (and sorry if I've confused things further!).

...actually, when I first checked through the moves I think I noticed that Kea had arranged all of them to avoid any back-steps (by being very careful with the words chosen) I think they all stay in order throughout - when I get a chance I'll double check this.
I only saw how difficult it had been to construct this puzzle when I had to come up with a single example ('doctor') earlier on.

cockie - only one letter in 25 is eligible - the other five stay in order.

Thanks Drxx. I’m making some good progress now. Ring 5 is emerging and pennies are dropping :-)

I gave up on this yesterday thinking it was too much of a grind of cold solving too many obtuse clues. In the final analysis you cannot say that any of the clues are unfair, but my goodness some of them stretch my previously considered concept of a cryptic indicator. There are more than a fair share of abbreviations that are new to me, and not having a historical knowledge of Egypt and Syria didn't help. My final conclusion, after finishing this beast, is that it is quite brilliant and just borders on the correct side of being fair and doable. I will truly look forward to the next contribution from Kea.

Help much appreciated with 31 please, which I don't think has been mentioned yet, but it's giving me grief. I have it starting SQU.. Also, is the four letter word in Ring 5 a non dictionary word? It's unknown to me and I can't change any of its letters. I have it starting with F. Thanks.

Theragman, I don't have a Q in 31. Def. is a musical direction for 'hastily'. A London suburb, minus the last letter, and minus R.
Re-arrange 33, the 4-letter word doesn't start with F.