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Can I have a hint for 1d please?

Support previously gracious superstar (6)
?E?E??

There is an extra letter given by the wordplay

Thank you

A three letter support (not Tee) and an old word (previously) for gracious loses its first letter. The superstar isn't a name, it's a general term - could be applied to Tina Turner, Bill Shankly...

The "support" is the kind you'd find holding up a table or chair (or person); the extra letter is at the beginning of a 4-letter obsolete word meaning convenient, skillful, gracious or courteous.

Oh, thank you both

Before I try and make sense of the endgame, can I get help with a couple of parse, I have the answers but can't see all the wordplay ...

17d - Nancy’s child cycling bog hasn’t sufficient power (6)

My answer is "Nancy's child" made up of a 3 letter "bog" 'cycled' but I can't see how the last 3 letters + the extra one are derived from "hasn't sufficient power"?

18d - Adjutant’s party raised short cheer in the van (6)

I have the definition as an "adjutant" with the last 4 letters a "party" but my problem is with the first two in the front/'in the van' - I have AR which looks like RA(h) for "cheer" reversed/raised but if the removal of the H is because the clue says "short cheer" then where is the extra letter?

PS I'm going to get some much needed sleep so won't be able to reply until tomorrow (actually, it's already tomorrow so later today!)

I've not seen this yet but I'm inferring there is an extra letter produced by wordplay in each clue?

In which case the last letters of 17 probably come from a word meaning "is not able to" with the first letter extra

18: RAH is defined as "a short form of hurrah" in Chambers so the H must be the extra letter

Thanks Loge, in the cold light of day that all seems very clear:-)

Thanks to Vismut. An entertaining gridfill and once the main part was done the second unclued answer was clear and unlocked the theme. Completing the perimeter was then a pleasant ramble which quite dispelled the funereal possibilities of the title.

Very enjoyable and entertaining. My completion of the central block makes naive primitive look like the work of a Dutch master.

Please can anyone help with the parsing of 4d - Poison comes from this plant of the air, Ionantha primarily.

I’ve got an answer but it doesn’t seem to fit with the perimeter so I think it could be wrong.