Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Thanks Chrise and Jono , of course why didn’t I see that!

Very kind sentiments dhope, thank you! By "completed" I mean without resorting to assistance of any kind......he gets me every time! Thanks to various measures 29452 is nailed now,. I'm still enjoying the delicious 15a - a parsing I've never seen before. Thought 13d a bit weak though

Although this was tough even by Paul's standards, I thoroughly enjoyed it and a couple of the clues made me laugh with the audacity of them (as opposed to the usual giggle at more Pauline clues).

FOI was 25a but I got 2d early which really helped.
COD 15a for the sheer trickery of it - not many setters would risk it but when I finally got it I was very tickled.

Many thanks to Paul (and to the many contributors on here, particularly with a couple of answers which I couldn't pass - syrup definitely need some hints!

Re 15a, one of first clues I got but because like you I’d never seen parsing before I wasn’t convinced it was right! Actually my first one was 13d , thought it was too obvious .

Reply to redcosmonaut at 122.

Hi all and thanks for all the help. Still struggling with the following, despite the comments above.
5, 6, 11, 14, 19, 20 &25.
Are 25 used in maths?

5 is a single letter (1) inserted into what you might call a canonised Federer (2,5). Defn. "better"

6 defn."attracting shoppers", parses as an anag of "take" (4) inside a thematic type of 2 (6)

11 defn. "removal from office", parses as an anag of "forced" (6) followed by a term for "leader" (4)

20 defn "capital city". Parses as a term for "is sometimes" (3,2), followed by a repeated single letter, then another single letter (2x1,1)