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Exactly. I don’t see the problem. Third definition of the first three letters in the BRB, Scottish, followed by single letter abbreviation of eccentricity, in geometry

Ah, thanks. I completely missed that in Chambers and was unaware of/neglected to check that abbreviation. Never seen it in a crossword before so that's one for the notebook.

No worries. It crops up from time to time. Actually it’s worth looking up all of the single letter abbreviations when you are at a loose end. A few odd ones might stick in your mind, such as
L = Lambert
G = conductance
S = Strangeness or Stokes
Z = impedance
B = bastard

Quisling, I really enjoyed your last post. It sounded like someone mulling over possible meanings of the wordplay in a particularly obscure clue, then giving up in exasperation.

"Lambert conductance? Strangeness . . . or strokes? Impedance? Bastard!"

Totally agree with you Brendan. This was a great crossword and the poet is a favourite of mine. I always enjoy Skylark’s themes... she did a Miles Davis themed crossword in the Listener a while ago which was also excellent.

It took me a while to get all the misprints here. I’d solved most of the clues but was about 10 letters short on the poem’s first line. I was trying to find poems about hay for ages. When I finally sussed it I smiled... it’s a collection of poems I know well having been gifted it on my 18th birthday. Good job too because my ODQ didn’t have it.

I’ve only just managed to finally sort all of the highlighting. I think my brain was fried after the Listener workout and the grid fill here and, other than the poet, I just couldn’t see them. So I’ve been for a run, pottered and cooked before looking again and voila... there they were.

Thanks skylark for a very enjoyable crossword. I’m off to read the rest of the collection again.

Quite agree Merenz. I should have expressed my own approbation for this excellent puzzle in previous posts. I didn’t know the poem but it is a real find. I was in a similar objectless situation only a couple of weeks ago, so I know how the character feels!

I came late to this, saving it for my night shift. (What am I going to do tomorrow night....maybe there's a new Genius....)
Anyway, virtually finished, without reading the forum, got all the thematic stuff. But what is going on at 13a? That H from a goat is making it very hard, I can't see any word and as no one has mentioned it I guess I have something wrong.
Only other query is parsing for 12d which I assume has a misprint.

Lumen,
There is another goat with a different spelling.
12d. Yes, a misprint. A word for 'on', reversed, in 'curves'. Def is 'arbours'.

Oh thanks, I see now, didn't read the whole entry for the goat I had.
And have my gannet too now. Great.
Are you up very late, very early, or not in the UK!

It's afternoon in Sydney, Lumen...and there is a new Genius out for tomorrow night.