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hi Johnson,

22d - Is a double definition - the first is a cryptic/humorous reference to "order student" (remember the use of "she") - for the 2nd definition, "what she claims to possess" , you need the read the answer as 2, 4

28a - 3 letter "article" inside/"penned by" 4 letter "humorous writer" (a specific one) - definition is "hide" both as a verb and a noun.

Your letters are correct (Ps. It's better to use ? for missing letters rather than - as they can be a bit difficult to read)

We haven’t seen Crucible in the ‘prize’ slot since November 2019. He’s also Redshank in the FT I now realise and clearly a sports fan as the name ‘Crucible’ has its routes in snooker…
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2014/jun/23/crossword-blog-meet-the-setter-crucible

Thanks Brendan, will continue stretching the brain. Still awaiting the comfort of the PDM

Thanks Johnson, I've just checked on Google and it looks like the answer to 22d can apply to both male and female - I hope I haven't muddied the waters:-)

Thanks Jono, I completely missed the snooker venue - as one would expect 😜

And the pennies have dropped. 6My CoD is now 22d,)

I mean (my CoD is now 22d)

What a brilliant thread this is! Thanks to all who asked for help and to all those who helped, I finally managed to untangle 22 and 28 and race to the finish!

Hi Johnson, hi Lucertola,

Thanks, that's great news - 22d was also my LOI (Last One In) but a top PDM when it finally dropped:-)

Morning! I have 5d but can't see why "smooth". Am I being thick? Many thanks.

Hi Samuipete,

If you mean 8d then I thought exactly the same thing but Chambers gives the last 5 letters as "to smooth" as in 'to set in order', straighten' etc.