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9 across:
Short piano piece one picks up with one's partner. Answer is chopstick, a short piano piece
but I cannot fully parse it. Anyhelp greatly received. Roger

you need two chopsticks to eat? the clue is wrong though - the piano piece is called "chopstickS"

… hence the ‘short’.

I think “short“ refers to the missing final S in chopsticks rather than the duration of the piece.

Perhaps ‘short’ is meant as an instruction to drop that S

3 down: novelist: one's leaving chorus to the end. (7).Answer is novelist Lessing but I cannot parse fully. Any help much appreciated Roger

It's SINGLES (one's) with SING (chorus) moved to the end

I came here to check if those two had been queried. Both apparently sound but nonetheless I'm left with a nagging dissatisfaction. Not helped by the lack of a Listener Crossword Puzzle. Why on earth can't the numericals simply be a quarterly bonus for them as likes 'em?

kenhiggs@8
actually i rather liked the lessing one.

2 Down - "Up towards rear of boat, keeping watch" (5) A-O-T
ALOFT is favourite, but there may be other possibilities. Can't fit the "watch" part of the clue in.