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54a "She's back, wearing man's close-fitting cap" (5)

B?R?T. Looks like it has to be BERET but can't see the parsing

Any help much appreciated

She's back is the letter E.
Bert is the man.
Beret.

Thanks rusty

Glad to help, Gooner.

Fun crossword, though a little more Googling than I would have wanted to check that words exist (orographical, intaglio, the odd spelling backsheesh, and apartmental, which I don't think anyone ever uses to mean 'like a flat').

Can't see these ones:
1d In the compiler's ancient dictionary it's “with paint thickly applied” (9)
I?P?S?O?D

31a Recurring passages and runs spoilt trio Melba cut short (10)
?I?O?N?L?I

impastoed
ritornelli
the compiler seems to be going out of his way bto nuse obscure words!

p.s. i knows impasto for "thick paint", but i've never seen an "ed" on the end before!

Darn, foiled by obscurities.
Thank you ChrisE.

Also grateful for parsing of 54a. Thanks

Thanks for the parsing of 54a. I couldn't see it either.

I must confess I wasn't impressed with the number of "boy/girl"-type clues in this one (where the answer includes a name) because they're almost impossible to solve from first principles - you can only see the name once you've got the answer. I counted a total of seven "names" in this crossword (including the same one in two different clues) - 54a brings this total to eight.