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After last week's walk down memory lane with Paul's first ever Guardian crossword, this week we have a real challenge from Tramp.

I knew I was in for a hard time when, after 10 minutes, I'd only solved one clue. That's not to say the clues weren't fair, they were, it's just that their construction was both devious and cunning.

12a and 21,16 and 22d are all very well hidden definitions.

There are a couple of homophones, one of which I think will cause some debate!

There are only two or three anagrams, but I do appreciate them when the surface completely matches the answer, as is the case with one in particular.

As I said earlier, some of the clues really took some working out, like 16d and 25a, where the clues are broken down in to many pieces.

My COD is a toss up between 4d and 25a, but I've opted for the very clever 25a.

A stiff challenge but a very enjoyable crossword from Tramp.

Stay safe:-)

I enjoyed this, but it went surprisingly quickly because the two long down clues (4, 5) were luckily write-ins. 9 was a good one, my LOI because I took a while to parse the also clever 3. I found 16d and 7d (unfamiliar word) hard. Enjoyed 10 (FOI), 12 and the aforementioned 16d. Still not sure of parsing for 6d.

Hi Geeker,

That's good going, getting 10 as your FOI, it was one of my last and I needed the crossers.

The parsing for 6d is quite tricky and took me a while to figure out. It's a 5 letter word for "setting out" followed by a single letter representation of "third (piece in auctio)" + 4 letter synonym of "a lot" - definition is "in the sale" - I think:-)

Thanks, Brendan. Your hint enabled me to correct an error in the second word of 6d (I was confused with the definition)! On 10a I fortunately sensed the definition and being American helped with parsing (the "rubbish" part) :) .

I wondered if you might be American, given the last part of 10a is so associated with the US. I've been doing the WSJ and Harpers lately, when and Syzygy puts up the link, and really enjoying them.

I started with 5a, then wrote in 5d despite its rather allusory definition.
I can't really explain the last letter in 3d.

Hi Chris,

I've gone through Chambers and the Free Online Dictionary and neither support the last letter in 3d. I did think it might relate to the Laos currency, but that's not abbreviated to K either.

....and as per usual!....

K
symbol for

5. (Currencies) currency
a. kina
b. kip

Wiki says it would need a line through it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_kip

Please could someone provide me with a hint for 11a?

I have d?a?

Thanks!