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Agree with all the comments about 23A ... simultaneously too simple (half the answer is in the clue!) and too slangy. There's another pretty obscure abbreviation in 25A too. Also, LOI was 21D because 'Realize' surely has some degree of comprehension, whereas the word we need does not. 'Find' would have been better. On the other hand, at least the Spoonerism worked quite well for once, and 16A and 19A are clever clues in a similar style. Overall, C+?

Nickos, in the answer, replace a single letter abbreviation for son with a single letter abbreviation for about and the parsing should become clear.

It does thank you, Phil.
I feel very disappointed with this crossword. There were some very iffy clues IMO.
I got in a mess by putting the wrong ‘campaigners’ in 11d.
I’ve finished but several clues are unparsed. Lots to do outside at the moment so will look back later at your comments when it gets dark.

Aaargh - after a few good weeks, this is driving me up the wall! Despite the tips above I still can’t parse 19A. Assuming I’ve got the answer correct (a word for ‘hates’?) - I can think of a two-letter abbreviation for ‘about’, but not a single letter. Nor can I dredge up a similar word meaning ‘sights’. Maybe I need another three coffees!
The parsing of 8D also has me stumped. Harrumph.

Single letter ‘about’ is usually associated with years and I think the ‘talk’ in 8 is usually accompanied with music if it helps you parse it Percy …and hello everyone I’m a new poster to the forum.

Welcome to the Forum DrJax, look forward to hearing from you again:-)

Hi Percy. The parsing of 8D is convoluted but here goes. Split the answer into 4, 3, 2, 1. That gives you a genre of music that involves shouty TALKing, with an abbreviation for HARD inside, followed by a clump of EARTH, then a two-letter word that's in the clue (one of two times that Everyman does this in this week's puzzle!!), followed by the 'first' of EXHAUSTING (which seems pretty apt!)

As for 19A, think CIRCA rather than ABOUT for the one-letter abbreviation.

Like most of the rest of you, I didn’t really enjoy this. Too many clunky clues imo. FOI 9a, LOI 15a. Hard to give a COD, but I’ll go for 16a.
All the best everyone.

Ahaa - thanks very much DrJax. You helped the penny drop. I was going down the blind alley of ‘about’ being in terms of correspondence/ subject. Sheesh. I can enjoy the rest of my Sunday and hope you do too.