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'tails' - one side of a coin, granama1.

Morning everyone. All I need is for someone to explain 1d for me. It’s frustrating to have a completed grid but one niggle…

Anag 'UK rocket' + 2 initial letters.

Ah...thanks Drxx, never seen that usage of the word before. It makes much more sense than the derogatory use of the word 'tail'!!

All done save for 29d ('Arrange pieces in abridged report'), which is one of the 9 answers requiring modification. Am I right in assuming the second word has a chess connection? If so, there are only 3 possibilities for the entry, none of which make sense on the basis the omission comprises two letters. Does it ?

Son1ofrover1, It does comprise two letters, and the second is the first letter of the word with the “chess” connection. So there are more than three possibilities. You need a word for abridged in the wordplay, as the last word of the clue on its own is the definition

If you mean chess pieces - yes - in the middle of a word for abridge - after 2 letter word for arrange.

Many thanks patgreg and quisling. I should not have hesitated to change my belief that the first word was the full answer's definition but I couldn't deviate from that train of thought. (I'll get get my my coat coat.)

It won’t be much consolation, but it was my last one solved too. A clever “lift and separate” which I easily fell for.

Thanks to Kruger for an interesting challenge and to Drxx @11 for clarifying the use of “tails”, which had given me a spurious extra letter and a case of mild indignation.

I confess, however, that I have had a lifelong, and profound, allergy to the thematic original which I dislike almost as much as I do “The Archers”.