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Hi birder
4d is a fictional place that's the setting for a series of novels. The parsing is "trunk" (5) inside "having less on" (5)

Hi Chris

Thanks for that, it also helped me solve 1a which is very clever

All done just in time for kick off. Took me ages to parse 14d. And I don't understand 'see' in 17a or how 23d relates to pope. Those last few were tough to get in. But a great puzzle from Imogen.

COD 7d. Very good.

hi rocky
17 first letter sometimes used as an abbreviation for see. Not the sort of list I was expecting!

23 several popes took the name

Very enjoyable and witty clueing this week. First one I’ve finished on a Sat morning for while (though I blame all the early kick offs in the Championship for that). Indeed I only got around to the last few clues in last week’s beast this morning!

Finished - with a lot of help from this site/forum. I can't parse 6a "Shrivel, bringing tail well forward to coil (6)". There is only one answer I can see, and it could mean "to coil", but how does it work? Some really good clues, thank you Imogen!

Think of a word that means to shrivel. Then bring the last letter in that word further forward to form a new word

Thanks, Birder. Cue me doing a Homer Simpson "Doh!" :-)

Finished - I think! - but can't parse 17 (despite discussions) or 19, can anyone help the penny to drop please?

I can't think how to say any more about 17.

19 an slightly unfamiliar word for a tree trunk around a standard crossword "dry".