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I have bottom half completed, struggling to move north. Would welcome oblique hints for 1 and 7a.

Hi Lumen,

1a - usual abbreviation for "check" + "blips" after the alteration - definition is last 4 words

7a - "religious venue" (I thought the word just meant "religious" but Chambers has it) with "money" replacing "bard" after alteration - definition is "fabulous herb".

This is entirely unrelated to the crossword apart from my reference to having been in the Kalahari.. So, Norah please delete if it breaks any rules. My wife’s photo blog about our first day in the desert - not for the faint-hearted.

https://www.sallyanderson.co.uk/blog/2022/10/lions-in-the-kalihari-the-pandemic

Will37. Not that row. I know where the answers are located. My issue is instruction can lead to answers that can be represented in several ways. For instance the lowest answer could be represented by a three and a four letter word both reversed or a single letter representing a number followed by a reversed 4 letter word. Similar ambiguity in another row means that there are two possible solutions involving 39 cells.

Wow, thanks Jack, the pictures are amazing - those lions certainly seem to enjoy their food!

I think I see what your alternative solution is, Smithsax, but I’d be very surprised if it’s the intended one. It’s irrelevant unless you submit, and if you do, you shouldn’t be asking anyway, so I don’t really see the big deal

I don’t submit but I don’t think ambiguity of the final solution is only relevant to submitters.
Really don’t want to give too much away but the other ambiguous string is the one starting third from the top (not the third row).
The instruction could lead to an answer of 2, 4 or 2, 5 or just 4 cells.
This means there are two possible combinations that use 39 cells.

Smithsax, I did see what you had identified as an alternative. I think it’s extremely unlikely to be the intended solution, because both the possibilities that make it up are sub-optimal (particularly the lower one). Why choose it in preference to the other? It’s unnecessary, and overcomplicating matters, as Listener solvers are wont to do. I will offer you 10/1 that it’s the published solution!

I agree the 5 cell solution for the lower one is sub optimal but the best solution in my view to the upper one is 2, 5 cells. For the 2, 4 cell answer to be correct the second word of the source material should be pleural and it is not.
If 2, 5 is correct then the lower answer must be 5 cells to give the 39 cells.

In that case I think you’ve made an error elsewhere. Your final sentence is wrong, in my view. And I think you’re being too explicit giving letter breakdowns. I suggest you check your other answers and do a recount