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Hi Neophyte,

The 18 cells are split between 2 rows, one in the top half and one in the lower. The first 2 words are 4 and 3, along with the first 2 letters of the next 5 letter word are in top half row. They're lyrics by the partnership spelled out by the extra letters and the title of the puzzle is a big hint as to the song the lyrics are from.

Hope this helps and welcome to the Forum:-)

Vera, Chuck and Dave. As GH said, "when we was FAB"

Sorry, wrong song - too much Merlot. Listen to Brendan!

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the hint. All now clear and I'm wondering why I couldn't see it before!

I know exactly how you feel:-)

Just starting this after a busy weekend, only enough time for Inquisitor (very nice).
The eight 5x3s must fit neatly, all the same way up right? I hope?

Hi Lumen, If you mean are they all 3 across and 5 down, yes.

The instructions say "The grid comprises eight such 8s", which struck me as ambiguous. The title, too, suggests omitting the middle squares.

I assumed that was what you were driving at. Of course you can read "comprise" as "consist solely of", rather than "contain or include", but I think the latter is a more commonsense interpretation (I would have preferred the word "include", actually). One could submit a solution with only the 8s without having to solve several of the clues, after all. I think the title is simply an allusion to the number in the song.

If I am wrong, and gaps are expected, I will never attempt another Listener crossword or post on here again. Are you brave enough to submit a solution with gaps?

All done but I don’t see the parsing of 14ac and I’d like to set my mind at rest.