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I think 25 is a person rather than soldiers (which, in itself, is misleading - Soup could have clued this in a more succinct way).

Hi Rocky,

25a - no, this a rare term for an "estate manager" that I'd never heard before.

Second word is an anagram/'foul' and first word is 3 letter "force" (as in 'to wedge') reversed/'retreating' then 2 letter acronym for "soldiers"

Thanks to everyone for help. What a slog. I like Soup's style in particular clever disguise of anagrams. But I'm going to need a few more prizes from him/her to get on their wavelength. Difficult but clever and still enjoyable.

COD 4d.

Thanks Soup I'll be wary next time you appear.

brendan; I've tried this in Google, but the 8 letters aren't accepted as a url - presumablly the right ones would take me to 16,10 (which I identified thanks to other contributors here)

Hi Phantom. Have you typed in the entire perimeter (as per Brendan @ #48) as a single URL? I think someone earlier said it failed in Safari but worked in Firefox. Mine worked fine in Google Chrome.

I've been laid low with Covid, so haven't seriously attempted this week's crossword. I'm a bit better than yesterday, so may try more tomorrow. I have got two answers, but haven't even read through all the clues. Maybe I'll get the Nina eventually.

Just looking for sympathy!

Get well soon, roof!

I needed the Nina to resolve the NE corner.

Hi Roof

It's worryingly rampant at the moment. I know so many people who've been laid low with it.

Get well soon. It's the perfect crossword for spending a whole day doing nothing but appreciating the cleverness of the construction. But if you're like me you'll need those forum big time.

This forum not those. Android predictive can be really annoying.

I know my 12 is correct because of 21 and the Nina but I can't parse it.