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Thanks Mattrom and Loge. That threesome is a new one for me. I was trying to parse it with the ‘t’ and use the clue beginning as the def. I have the first 14 shaded, now for the last bit!

(In way of thanks to loge @ 27)

And now ladies and gentlemen, for your entertainment and delight, let me present for you my own fantastical parsing of 23. A parsing of coruscating complexity that is bound to astonish and impress.

(This is after guessing the answer from the def and crossers – and realising the first two letters were missing from the wordplay.)

TC = first letters of ‘too crude’.
A = ‘assumed’.
ST = abbr of standard.
S = son (i.e. ‘issue.)

Which just goes to demonstrate how easy it is - for me, anyway -to disappear up one’s own fundament.

Oh bravo Nelson! *applause*
(I’d been heading in a similar direction). Got there in the end with the end game having gone around the Jacks=flags or sailors...and being distracted by ravens, Ill omens and just about everything else.

Well, I do the same almost every week. And, often, even after whopping nudges on this thread remain clueless. Or more accurately, answerless.

Thanks to the hints on here I’ve managed to find the phrase and the two words.

I’ve got one answer still to enter (22a) and its crosser (19d) to parse. Perhaps I’ve got 19d wrong but I can’t really see it can be the other possibility. Can someone put me out of my misery? Thanks

If you have an R in the middle of 22a you have chosen the wrong one. It needs to be an O, Answer is first 3 letters of a 9 letter policeman. Rest of clue is a double definition

I think “the” is indicated by “only” in 19d, though I don’t much care for it. Interlock is the common definition in the BRB

Thank you very much Quisling. You were right on the R! Evidently I don’t know my Rs from my Os!

Lol ! I was impaled by the horns of the same dilemma, so I can sympathise

I've struggled this week so am late to the forum. Is anyone still there? If so, help, please, with parsing 26a 'Parisian that corrupts cases and drives on lawn'. And, although I have a complete grid have the first phrase, I can't see the consequential two hidden words.
Finally, what is the significance of the title, Jacks?