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I've been looking at this off and on between doing Christmassy things. I would appreciate a nudge for the extra letter in either 26a 'shrub hurt..' or 32d 'Home of Jan Vermeer..' I have answers but just can't see how the extra letter works. Thanks

9 down is word for oaths minus a letter inside old word for uncle (3 letters, crops up quite a lot in these puzzles). Def is demean.

Woodlouse is right about 25

Planks, 26 is a reversal of a 4 letter shrub and a word meaning hurt (also painful) and is the last letter of the latter that is extra

32 is an &lit. The extra letter is in the abbreviation for frequently

Thanks loge - so obvious when you explain it. I had fallen for the shrub being the first part of the answer!

Got it! It is indeed a bit of a stinker!

The only ? left is the parsing of 32d. 'Home of Jan Vermeer: he drew it frequently, last in paint.' Have the answer and the extra letter. Pondered on 'frequently' being intermittent letters but that doesn't work.

All in all, a good challenge though and the wording in the preamble made me smile when the penny dropped.

I had the wrong rash for quite a while in the shrub clue!

Ah. I see I wasn't the only one to 32d.

Planks, I have 26 as all running backwards. First the shrub and then a word for hurt with a letter missing. I could be wrong.

Granama, the first three letters of 32 are an abbrev for “he drew it“ (no I didn’t know that before), then abbrev for frequently (which provides the extra letter) then last letter of paint.

Thanks again Loge. I did check Chambers (phone version) but neglected to check the entry with the full stop after it. Doh!