Crossword Help Forum
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HI Lumen,

4d - 8 letter homophone/"speaker's" of a word meaning "delay"/temporary suspension minus theme word - definition "writer"

23d - 5 letter word meaning "criticism" after (t)axing the head of S(tate) - definition is "beat"

28a - initial letters of C(ollege) L(ecturer) inside "sa(i)d" - definition is a rare (at least to me) word meaning "poet"

Lumen, you mentioned being 'grateful for hints'... so I didn't give any answers!

Wow. I’d never have got those two.
Still not clear what the last letter of 4d is. The 8 letter word I didn’t know, but fair enough, it makes sense - but it ends in Y. Can’t find a writer ending Y.
28a, word for poet..... that’s truly obscure and I wouldn’t even have looked it up as was SURE it couldn’t be right.

Thanks, Lumen. You don't need A writer - just the writer of the clues...!

That's my take on it....

Thanks Malone, yes I see now. The entry at 4d is a real word, but undefined, I was forgetting that.

Thanks Brendan too !
Just need to solve the message now. Missing a few removed letters from down clues.

Ignore my parsing of 4d, I'm sure Malone's is correct.

Glad we could help, Lumen.

Thanks, Brendan - my parsing isn't always ... correct, but 4 D seems quite straightforward.

I really must have spent too many hours on crosswording on my long weekend.
Had a vivid dream solving another one last night. If any setters are looking for an exciting theme (!) it was on Old Testament books, entered in a spiral....
Funnily I seemed to know more about the OT in my dream than I do in real life.

Lumen, that sounds a theme worth avoiding!