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standard "touching", then take L off a word for a type of coal

Thanks Chrise, always one (or more) where I'm a bit dense :-)

Thanks ChrisE, I see it now!

I saw the stuff on the fringes, thought it was a possible Nina (boxer, bloom, colour), but rejected the theory because the rest of the fringe didn't add up. Neglected to search elsewhere.

More kudos to Picaroon, thanks jono.

All the ones I've found are round the outside, geeker.

Thanks, chris. So it is a proper Nina. Don't recall Picaroon ever going for one. My total ignorance regarding the relevant subject didn't help. :-)

Definitely on the hard side I’d say. Started off very slowly, FOI was 24d! As usual with Picaroon, fair clues throughout. COD 11, LOI was 6d which is my only minor quibble - not happy with the definition, but I’m probably wrong. No idea what the gimmick is, I’ve looked round the edge and can’t see any 15s.
Thanks to Picaroon.

Ok, got the gimmick now. Very good, certainly wouldn’t have seen that myself.

I can't parse 25a. Two letters taken out?

i see what you are thinking, but there's a synonym for shirkers that only needs one letter removing