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Good morning all

A slow solve for me but eventually got there. No-one else seemed to struggle with my LOI (16D), I ended up putting the crossers into the work solver and just as the potential answers were coming up a penny dropped and I got it.

For the Spoonerism, I wonder if the first word shoudl be moved to the end (after the other swap of letters and then you get a "healer" of sorts as opposed to just "heal"?

Unless, of course, I'm completely on the wrong track

Minty

Hi Minty,

Add me to the list of those that took an age to see 16d.

3d - I could well be wrong here but I think, once the letters are swapped, you pronounce the answer as though it's 4 words (3, 5, 5, 4 - where the third word has an apostrophe) not three like the actual answer. So you have O.. F.... Y..... M.... - I think!

I agree Brendan. The third word with the apostrophe is the reason for ‘solicits’ in the clue I thought

3d - Thanks to Alzy for pointing out that you need to swap the first 2 letters of the third word with the first of the second to get the required result.

Thanks Brendan, got the Spoonerism now - it sort of works with a bit of mis-pronounciation !

minty

3D It just about works if you have a couple of drinks first, slur the middle section, and make the whole thing a question. In short, not bad compared to previous spoonerisms!

Re: 17D, I'm still confused about the parsing. Is "Announced" or "to be seen" the definition? I seem to have dictionary support for the latter, but then what is the former word doing? Thanks.

One left today - 25a "Moistens black turnip after flipping" (6).
Got -E-E-S but just can't find anything appropriate!

Smot, the wordplay really does include a word for a type of turnip in reverse.
Nahuas, announces is the definition

Alzy Brendan for Spoonerism I swapped 1st 3 letters of 3rd word with 1st of 2nd. Last word of answer is now not clumsy. I can't parse 20d tho