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Finally got there. It does get slightly easier as you progress. I worked down from the top, using the potential letters from the down answers to look for plausible letter patterns. Then it was largely a case of reverse fitting possible answers to the across clues.

Despite initial reservations I really enjoyed this. Quisling is quite right that this is an excellent old-fashioned Listener.

I think the unwoven clue for 1a(1) is this:
Hated cuts rule charged (7)
I know the answer

If so the clue for 1a(2) is this:
Sham spending following number one in such circumstances (5)
F?C?S

Please help

Almost, Bananabean, but you need to exchange "spending" and "cuts".

I’m toying with accursed minus r. Not sure if I’m on the right track but the first letter could be A and the second must be c or t.

So the clue for 1a(2) is this:
Sham cuts following number one in such circumstances (5)
F?C?S

I am none the wiser.

Looks like an anagram cuts after n or i. Ictus is all I find

I'll give more info on the May Contain Answers thread.

Thank you Paddock.

That was the most difficult gridfill of the last 50 or so, even surpassing Sabre.

That was brutal. Interlocking clues crossing interlocking answers: I had only one word in, 13 (4), for a long time, until the righthand side began to coagulate. I didn't spot the adversaries (or the significance of the title) until I had everything in (might have helped, I suppose) and the final transform is at least unambiguous. Remind me never to diss the easier ones again, lest Paddock hits us with something even more taxing.

On first reading, I thought of passing on this one but decided to give it a go. It's been painful but I've solved nearly all of the Down clues (not 1 or 9 yet) and have filled the top two rows. As I'm sure most people have done, I pencil in possible letters in cells then look for Across answers that might fit and try and retrofit them to parts of the interwoven Across clues.

I've now ground to a complete halt. I believe that I have the correct answer for 12 (5 letters) but can't parse it from the clue (other than its 2 word definition). I also have what I think is the only word that will fit the possible patterns for the 7 letter word but can't see anything that might fit it from the clue.

So, I'm looking for nudges (nothing explicit please) to resolve the two parts of 12A. A nudge on 1d wouldn't go amiss either.

Many thanks. Let me know if you need to take this over to the other thread which I've purposefully avoided so far.