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I'm more confused that ever about 12d - If "relishes" is 'tastes' then it's an E short for the game and has an S too many - help!

Cancel that - I've got it.

Like granama1, I had the endgame sorted quite quickly (for me) but never quite finished filling the grid. Hints appreciated for
20a Perturb ameer spending money (acting corruptly) and
21d Young fish make off upstream to River Exe in the end.

Hi notil,
20a Def. is 'perturb' in the sense of 'stir up'. It's in Chambers under the synonym, but not under perturb.
An anagram of 'ameer', removing M for money + A (acting) + extra letter.
21d. Def is 'young fish'.
A word for 'make off', escape, reversed + extra letter + R (river) + end of 'Exe'

Phew! Finally made it over the finishing line for this excellent puzzle but there are a few I can't fully parse. I didn't help myself by trying to find variations on "shot at is hooting......" in ODQ - took way too long to see what was staring me in the face:-)

6a - Principality once became undone in error in the field (6)

15a - Leaves suit with head to be altered (8)

5d - He buys back last bit of estate of foreign uncle (now dead) (8)

I have the answers and extra letters but the not all the wordplay.

Hi Brendan, for the grid entries,
6a. is a 3 letter word for 'became undone', as of a stitch, + 2 letter abbreviation for an 'error in the field' which would make a player very unpopular with his team mates.
15a. A word for 'suit' (5) with the first letter changed.
5d. E + French for 'of' + old word for 'uncle' (3)

Sorry, 6a is 'became undone' inside the 2 letter abb.

That's brilliant, many thanks Mattrom.

Many thanks, Mattrom, very helpful. I sleep easier with a properly complete puzzle.