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Hi roof
20 is a bit obscure. Put a B (for black) in front of the answer and see if that workks.
25 is a hidden (I'm a bit confused - the "tiny" I objected to is in 2d)
3 2 letters reversed, then "girl presented", then "large teapots"
5 take a letter off "men"...
8 Indian just gives I
18 yes, homophone, though not of a word I would necessarily associate with a scaffolder ) though no reason why not)
26 compound anagram

Hi Chris

Many thanks for your explanations. I still can't see 20ac, but maybe the penny will drop sometime. I didn't spot the hidden in 25ac, though I wondered where it was as Brendan had mentioned there was one in the acrosses. In fact I had worked out 3d myself, I'd just forgotten. 8d I see the I, but still don't know if I've got the right answer. I'm not sure my answer means reservations. I need to lose an s and gain a t. In fact I had worked out 26ac. I'd just forgotten how I got it.

My FOI was 1ac closely followed by 4d, though at first I spelt the first word wrongly!
My LOI was 8d and I'm still not sure about it.

My CODs were 14d and 10d

I'm looking forward to watching Scrublands tonight. I read the book last year in my book group and we all thought it wonderful. I'm afraid the follow up wasn't so highly rated by us.

Hi again roof
I'm not entirely convinced by 8d either - that and the "tiny" in 2d seem a bit off.

Clue 8 is a mixed bag. "Indian" appears superfluous ("motorway" could be 2 letters), thrown in to create the witty "Indian reservation" conclusion. But the clue is too long to have a truly elegant surface IMO.

Geeker, Chris, et al., you know 13a has to be my COD. Chris, loved the rhyme. Wish I was still teaching just so I could use it.

I had never come across the "French art" device before, but saw it in the current Listener the same day.

Hi Darla,

Yes, French art has been a mainstay of setters for a long time now, along with the likes of 'space/nut - en' and 'men - or' etc evidenced, as you say, by its double appearance in this week's puzzles.

I was going to add 'theatre - no' to that list - it used to be ubiquitous but I haven't seen it for ages 🤔

“No” was in the Everyman two weeks ago (the one with fireworks), though is was clued as “drama” rather than theatre.

Now that is a happy coincidence 😂

I haven't yet done the Everyman from 2 weeks ago so didn't see that but I do know that as soon as I posted about it I thought 'drat, I should have put drama rather than theatre' 🫣

Morning folks, I usually wait till later to post but this 20a has me stumped, think I've got all downs right and even with roof's hint I'm still baffled, perhaps not helped my not getting 21d yet either.

On a positive note got all the rest and although tricksy, most enyable

Good morning dayzymay, like you found this tricky in parts but most enjoyable . 21d is a hidden, 20a a four letter word minus first letter, two letter American , divorce hub (4 letters) definition in confidence.
COD 10d
LOI 6d
FOI 9a
Thanks to Imogen ,very clever .