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Best wishes for 2023 to all !

All done but puzzled about how clue 25a is supposed to work (apart from the definition which is obvious). Just throwing away one letter seems rather inelegant.

Any pointers please?

Hi Coffindodger,

25a - I think it's 2 letter "very" + 1 letter "hot" followed by O(ld)

Just one letter for Hot, then Old.

Many thanks Chrise and Brendan.
But I can't help thinking that simply using initial letters without any indicator is not the neatest type of clue.

i agree in general, coffindodger, but these 2 are standard abbreviations

Happy new year, everyone ! Nice puzzle. I can’t parse 17 a. Any suggestions?

17a: cryptic definition from early 19th c. UK history.

Thanks geeker. Gives me a slight clue.

Actually, I know the character. I just can’t parse it.

It's a term which has become synonymous with anti-technology. "Smashing" refers to the actual history.