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All done apart (as usual) for the last step. There seem to be a lot of proverbs offering much the same advice, but I can't find the one I'm supposed to be looking for. There is a fairly obvious location for the substitution, but no word which permits real crossing words springs out. No doubt when the penny drops it will seem terribly obvious, but
right now I'm in GWIT land. Let's hope the I've-just-posted-so-it'll-become-clear fairy does her usual job.

Hi cockie, it's not a proverb in itself you're looking for but a paraphrasing of the one provided by correct letters using the removed substances. "The obvious location" is "red", look at its symmetrical entry.

Thanks, ginge - most helpful.

Tough. I'm looking for that final word too - the alternative. I know where it is but the only thing I can think of is a language - but that doesn't make real words. Or doesn't that matter? If it's real words then the first letter must be the same as must the fourth...

Or is it a generic cross channel reference - only that wouldn't make real words either

I've changed 19d....

Thanks xwordfan. Then one of my hunches was correct I think - only in the wrong location.

In my view this was a brilliant crossword, with a delicious red herring to top it off.

I have come to a complete standstill. I am down to 4 clues but have spent about 3 hours on those today to no avail. 29a - When whaling scares group of friends (7): 35a - Notice colour like blood around fish about to spawn (6) (possibly regard?): 20d - Old Turkish bread by feeding equine (6) and 26d - Ferociously attack keep in brief period (6). My first thought was 'savage' but that would result in 2 changes in both 25 and 27 across. Also - are the correct letters read in clue or grid order? Nudges, gentle or otherwise, in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Alwayspuzzled, it took me a while to track down 29 A. You need a single letter abbreviation, followed by a word for 'group of friends' (more wartime, say, than at school). The latter loses its first letter, to fit the definition of the first three words.

26 D has only one change - to the word you have suggested! The 25 A change is at the end of the word. 27 A works ok too, and has just one change.

20 Is a fairly unusual word, I'll try to think of a hint or nudge!