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Ps, look at B and S as words and what they have in common

Cheers, got that one now.

So I have an answer for 23D now but can't parse it. And I have a likely answer for 13D but can't parse that either.

23 steer isn't a verb
13 split bumfluff

lol, the "curvy region" then.

13 I have first word correct have to think of another 2nd word I think (not a Roman town which is what I guessed)

23d: two letter synonym for steer going up, inside three letters for curvy region.
13d: The first word is for bum/drunkard and the second word is for fluff, kind of. The def is clean.

I disagree on the first part, mathi. I think it's a verb for beg/borrow etc.

Got them all now although I'm still not too convinced by 9 and 19 and there seems to be some double duty in 17. But those are observations rather than even quibbles because I loved it overall, despite falling for some old chestnuts once again.

Thanks again for the tips (and the mind reading when I said NE instead of NW :-). For those coming after, my advice is to try extending which words are included in the definition. And then squint. Some really lovely lateral thinking required throughout. Thanks Picaroon.

Chambers defines the first word as a drunkard (informal), and bum as the first word+r.

Yes that's how I would parse the first word ChrisE.
So if it's not a Roman town as the 2nd word all I can think of is what you might do to a window but I can't see why that would be the case either.

It could be either, I suppose, but the verb form seems more likely. "Can I bum a cigarette?"

I can't think of a Roman town that would fit, PS, so you might have a crosser wrong.