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Thanks, Malone. I did check Chambers but did not include the full-stop. I suppose that is a disadvantage of using the online version! Oddly, when you do type the full stop, you get the results without the full-stop as well as the drop, but not vice-versa.

I am almost there. I can't figure the parsing of 8d though. I have "dissenting body" as the def. A gentle hint would be welcome.

Hi MPRS,

8d - the "electric shock therapy" is a 3 letter acronym and that follows a short version of "is" - you're right about the definition (although I was unsure of this exact meaning)

Thanks, Brendan. A little misdirection here, as I thought EST was electric shock therapy. I guess ECT is the same thing.

Thanks MPRS, I'm not sure what the C stands for, it might be 'convulsive', but that's part of the first word so perhaps not?

Yes, ECT is in Chambers as electroconvulsive therapy.

That's a wrap. I found the endgame easier than some of the clueing this time. The long thematic words weren't too hard to work out, especially 20 with the repeated letter, as a few have observed.

I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned a Guardian Genius puzzle I recall doing, definitely within the last year, where a required missing or added 'letter' was the same as in this one.

Lumen - I think there has been a listener with the same mechanic reasonably recently except you had to write the letter rather than omit it.

There was an early post about 17d but I’m still in the dark. Any further hints would be appreciated. Also struggling with 4d.