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Quisling, thanks for your explanation. Interestingly, part of the wordplay has its reciprocal in another clue, which I saw readily enough.

Granama1 my answer to the first across clue comes from 'mount up' in the sense of numbers (containing the usual letter for rex) and since it's a palindrome there's no reversing involved. Do I have the wrong answer?

Could anyone help me with the Hope clue please? granama1?

Ukridge. You are quite right. I arrived at what I think is the right answer and then parsed it (incorrectly)...doh.
Apologies Dylan!

Re the Hope clue. Check the second definition of 'hope' in Chambers. Usual recipe. Makes an uncommon example of the definition (but is in Chambers).

I’m finding this even more brutal than usual, which is saying something for this novice solver. I have a small handful of answers that seem plausible but given I usually lean extremely heavily on getting something into the grid then chasing crosses, this is extremely intimidating. I could ask for nudges on specific clues but given how many I’d need, I’m curious instead for any broader nudges about how to tackle a puzzle like this. Is it worth trying to suss out grid placement early or should one focus on solving clues until reaching some sort of tipping point?

chrisremo .. I found there was a tipping point with this, a point when something became apparent .. I probably had about 12-15 answers but of course it will depend on which answers they are .. also mooncow’s tool is very useful (thanks mooncow).

There were some very clever and elegant clues, which meant a Sunday finish for me. Thanks Sabre, the most challenging Listener of the year so far by a mile.

I can’t see how the “Detective” clue parses, if anyone could subtly put me out of my misery?

Chrisremo, as someone with 20 years’ experience of the Listener, I’d suggest that this is very much at the tougher end of the spectrum, particularly nowadays. Frankly, I don’t think a novice would be able to finish without being spoon fed half the answers.

I had to cold solve almost half the clues before seeing a way to enter some, but I enjoy doing it and probably did more than necessary. Generally I’d have thought people will need to have solved at least a third. Clearly the top line will help, and explanations of the first two clues have already been given.

It’s certainly worth playing with Mooncow’s lovely tool mentioned early in the thread to give an idea of how the grid ought to look. Don’t worry too much about the extra letters, it’s the down clues’ positions which can be fixed.

Lordbadger, a three-letter word replaces part of the NATO alphabet in your “detective”

Yep I needed about 17 clues done before something twigged.

Lordbadger, the Detective clue was one of my last parsed. It was only when I realised that the definition was only the last word and the penultimate word was actually part of the wordplay that it became clear.

Thanks for tips to the first 3 across solutions. Sadly, this ruins my hypothesised grid pattern! I had a 6 letter answer descending from the top right cell - doesn't seem to work.

I'd value hints to the first two down solutions, to start fitting entries together

Thanks