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January puzzle:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jXoSqm8iUcfdfP5eJxKT-ifTrz8e7IiL/view?usp=sharing

December solution:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jNvjVTbFOadaO3tpraMnGLFpQ7DyE4WD/view?usp=sharing

For best results, please download, open, then print.

Scans courtesy of Sunray.

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Previous puzzles & threads can be found here:

2020: https://tinyurl.com/u584qqb

2019: http://tinyurl.com/y9z7ukwd

2018: http://tinyurl.com/ybkexusg

2017: http://tinyurl.com/je5vkm8

2016: http://tinyurl.com/h2zduy4

2015: http://tinyurl.com/oynnjsx

2014: http://tinyurl.com/o6g6w4u

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Thanks Syzygy.

Just glancing at this- 13a is NOT the singular form of a plural. I'd like to be mistaken...

13a Chambers doesn't give it but the Free Online Dictionary does, but it has a link to "usage notes" where it says ...... "is one of those words like congeries that look like plurals but are etymologically singular".

Well, I'd assumed that once I had a full grid it would become immediately apparent how to fill the seven blanks - it hasn't!!

Let's hope that posting has the usual PDM inspiring effect:-)

Bingo 😃

@aristophanes
Re 13A - exactly, horrendous clue and answer.

And brendan, regardless of what your Free Online Dictionary says,
KUDOS is not a plural noun.
Look it up, in a real dictionary.

This was a really sad puzzle. Lame clues, loads of anagrams.
What goes in the squares ? Who gives a rat's ass ?

Thanks for the link, syzygy. I think 'kudo' is OK as an Americanism (although it's certainly a back-formation made in error). It is in Merriam-Webster's dictionary (available online) and the entry is quite informative. It's also OK in scrabble, by the way.
Perhaps it's been used to create a bit of controversy, because it isn't forced by the constraints of the grid ('kilo' could have been used together with ails, lite and steamer).
I agree with you about there being too many throwaway clues and anagrams but I quite enjoyed the broad symmetry of the endgame and the hunt for so many examples. I found it interesting but I'll probably stay this side of the Atlantic in future - thanks again for the link.

Hi brendan, like syzygy I'm flummoxed by what goes in the blank cells.

Please drop a hint.

Also any one else who has figured it out.

Hi Sunray,

If you look across the diagonal starting at 1 you'll see an example of one. So far I've only found three and half of a fourth but there's a list on Google so hopefully it'll only be a matter of time.