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Ta, Brendan.

Thank you, eXternal. The final product was very satisfying and repaid the often time-consuming efforts to produce extra and replacement letters.

As to the objections to “hoi polloi”, the disputed defInite article is rather beside the point, isn’t it? The real objection (if there is one) is that it’s the wrong language. 😉

And (in an Olympic class bit of pedantry) I think that “nests” in 9a is doing double duty as part of the definition and as a containment indicator.

Whistling insouciantly, he exits stage left.

I quite enjoyed the debate about the (perhaps) superfluous 'the' accompanying 'hoi polloi'. I remember feeling very smart at school when we were told that the phrase meant 'people in general' - apparently most people thought it meant rather the opposite, the posh folk, aristocracy etc. I enjoyed getting to feel smug when people used it wrongly. No debate about 'the' ever came my way.

Jack, isn't the 'in' in 9 Across enough of a containment indicator, or do crossword conventions expect/demand slightly more?

Indicator or not? Just me burbling, Malone. I couldn’t defend my position in a court of law - I can at least state that fairly definitely: I’m married to a judge, after all.

Thanks, Jack. I was being semi-serious - I've seen solvers quibble about, discuss, deplore... all sorts of things where clues are concerned. These involve 'stuff' to me - stuff that I don't get involved in! I've seen discussions about alternate letter answers clues 'not working' for various reasons, or certain words not being good enough to indicate subtractive anagrams, even stuff about ABC not being a suitable 'anagrind'. The word 'anagrind' has never passed my lips, or my pen, or my finger on a keyboard. I'm definitely at the more casual end of of the solving spectrum!

I'm sure you'll never be called upon to defend your position in a court of law, but it might be different here on the Forum?