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Hi WilliamSeal,

11a - 3 letter "even if" + 3 letter "gas mixture" minus extra letter + 2 letter "in supply" - I wasn't sure of this but it's in Chambers under adverb.

Thanks Brendan. I see it now though not the best clue of the day!

EV offers the stiffest challenge this weekend.

Morning All.
After a hiatus of nearly 10 years, I've decided to return to the Listener and to this thread. Remarkable that many of the names of people posting here are still the same! Hope you are all well.
My question:
Is there a potential sting in the tail with this puzzle in terms of the circling of the two *appropriately positioned* letters?
For me, there are two pairs which are contenders: one pair representing 't**e' and one pair representing 'm******c'. Given the pioneer's discovery of the latter, I'm drawn in that direction...
Could this have something to do with the title too?

Ha. Interesting point Lathamjeld, hadn't spotted the other option. Think that must be too obscure though, especially given that the obvious pair are correctly positioned with regard to the thematic object.

I'm wondering if the title is treated in the same way as the across clues versus 90 degrees, becoming 80 and giving the thematic location visited by the pioneer.

This week's puzzle was a fun milestone for me—a complete grid, with all requirements of the preamble satisfied, without having resorted to this thread at any point.

Sadly there remains one clue whose wordplay eludes me...

6d. Mimic succeeded—that is something exceptional (6)

I have the beginning of the wordplay but I can't figure out how the rest of it works out, even taking into account what the missing letter must be. Thanks as always for any nudging!

Which incidentally, and in answer to 0pt0, I think is also why only the across clues were treated thematically

CR - Mimic can be a noun as vowel as a verb.

Sorry - meant “as well as” - auto correct got me again.