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Another enjoyable puzzle. Construction of the thematic clues pretty impressive and the unjumbled words all blended into the clues perfectly . Thanks to Stick Insect. All fairly plain sailing in 2022 so far so expecting to hit a brick wall next week based on my usual solving ratio.

Got it!

How misleading just three wrong choice - but plausible - extra letters can be!

And I'd made the wrong choice out of two with the title, an' all - though maybe not so totally wrong...

Now I understand it, terrific, well-constructed puzzle - thank you, Stick Insect.
Extra juicy privet for you tonight.

Good, Quixote! Glad you got there.

Still haven't finished this! Full grid but I'm not seeing 7d or 29d. Are either thematic please?

Lumen, one is, one isn't...

7D no - defo is first word; last definition Chambers. Obscure.

29D yes - only one word fits letter pattern. Stephen Fry would probably have coined it, had someone else not done so previously.

Thanks hw7.
7d, First word is definition? Or treated first word is definition?
(I have both answers...just seeking parsing for the second part of the instruction.)
30d is another mystery to me!

First word is definition. S. American tree. Dutch name is treated to give a French one, to generate four letter word as translation of last.

30D - cricket side batting; four letter word for attach to.

So I have to make a little known French place out of 4/5ths of Arnhem?!
How does attach to relate to wide in the clue please?

It would be nice to finish this as sadly I think it will be my last Listener - judging by the thread above. (After two and a half years, every single Saturday...Very sad. But see you on IQ thread.)

So I have to make a little known French place out of 4/5ths of Arnhem?

Yup. That’s The Listener for you. To be fair, it’s not that unknown; couple of battles and Champagne.

Re: wide; treated word; generated wordplay is anagram of wide minus ‘i’.