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After a minor domestic DIY crisis involving a shower door I haven't looked at this much today but after 30 minutes I'm not finding it easy. But those I have got I'm liking the clueing. Some good red herrings from Picaroon.

Can anyone explain the parsing of the second word in 16d? And is the second word in27a as obvious as it should be given driven is in the clue?

16d put an N in the second word to get a rhyming slang word.
I explained 27a in an earlier post - I know what you mean, though.

2nd word in 16D is cockney rhyming slang "me old China" missing a letter.

2nd word of 27A is obvious yeah.

Thanks Chrise and PDS. I still always miss that definition of china

Also, shouldn't the definition for 3D be withOUT real effort???

Ok, I see definition 4 in Chambers online means "with real difficulty"

HI Rocky

I think you might be doing better than me. I woke up late, so morning Saturday chores took longer, so didn't start until 3.00pm. I really don't like Picaroon (I know I say that about so many) but his/her clues are so convoluted. I got 16d without understanding the China bit.

Why would I put an N in 21 ac?

I'll now go away and ponder the hints from the thread and see I can do more than my current nine. My FOI was 12ac, except I'm not sure of my answer, but my second was 2d, which crosses with it.

Is 5d an anagram? If so, of what?

N goes between letters 2 and 3 in 21A. I got this wrong at first, going for a more Pauline answer.

5D is a 5 letter "cry" + the rest is an anagram ("ruined").

Hi Roof
In current chess symbols, N, is used for "knight" (it used to be Kt).

Ah, roof asked "why" not "where", must get these eyes fixed ;)