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Even with the asterisked clues entering themselves in the grid and all but three letters of the unclued ones appearing too, I can't for the life of me see, even with clear text and encrypted text and after trying the usual tools, how to get to the key phrase to identify the missing letters. Or is there a simpler way I'm missing?

I'm at the same stage as you , having looked at Quinapalus to break the code ...no use....but i am stuck on 1a wasps nest in Lothian near centre of Dalkeith

Near=BY, then middle letters..

Yes, the keyword does not appear in any of the online Playfair cracker dictionaries, so no way to get it (that I can see) other than using the encoded and decoded words to construct the 5x5 from first principles. The keyword(s) are (4.7) and there is really no hint to the theme in the preamble or any of the clues. An endgame that is all out of proportion in difficulty relative to the easiness of most clues.

Thank you buddy

I guess the first word of 2d can be taken as a hint but no way to know that until the code is cracked.

I'd just mention for those unaware of it that the usual set of clue hints at the Big Dave site has this week been supplemented by some advice on how to decrypt Playfair encodings.

Have cracked it by the purest of chances. Buddy's nudge at 5/6 was crucial.

Before I embark on the endgame, can I get a parse for these two, the answers are clear but not the wordplay .....

18a - Parasite having flat-topped cap seizing power violently (8)

I've tried taking P from my answer but it doesn't seem to lead to anything.

7d - Tessa ran naked: could be Anna’s _____ (8)

My answer means "ran naked", but how is that derived from Tessa ... could be Anna?

Okay, I think I have 7d - looks like a subtractive anagram.

TAM "seizing" anagram of POWER

ANNAS + answer anagrams to TESSARANNAKED