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Finished this, but the parsing of 2d has me baffled.

The clue is: Meal in France no longer excluding last cake (6).

The letters I have (and I don’t think any of them are wrong) are G - T - A - . The answer looks as though it should be GATEAU (= cake), but please can someone explain why?

Mmm - I think it might be TEA in GAU(l(?
Caul for France i s rather loose, though!

Try again without typos!

Mmm - I think it might be TEA in GAU(l)?
Gaul for France is rather loose, though!

Chambers gives "Gaul" as "a name given to ancient France" so "France no longer" looks okay.

Yes, but Gaul was much more extensive than current France. It included - actually, just see here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaul

Of course, there was the classic schoolboy "howler": Caesar quratered Gaul into three halves...

Thanks everyone. Another addition to the deletionfest (sigh…)

I'm glad to have seen this post as I was baffled by 2D as well, so thanks to all those involved.

This leaves me with one :

46D - Painful sensation when carrying six flags (6)
?A?V?G

I assume the 3rd letter is V giving, presumably, ?AVING but I can't parse any of the likely answers.

I'm almost certainly being thick, but would be grateful for any assistance.

PAVING (= flags, as in flagstones). VI (six) inside PANG (painful sensation).

Dear Madwoman......

Thanks for this. I wasn't thinking of the right sort of flags.

Not only do I not need to think of this any longer, but should be a few up on my sister when she rings tomorrow.