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I don’t follow Drxx. Cockie, CD and I all say that there is a number of empty cells, so how can the retreat be fully covered?

Not much progress since my post 2, but

a) I have an answer for Fruit producers for Scotland.... , which sort of fits, but in which I can't understand the wordplay

b) please could I have a tip for College of Valencian.....

Thanks

Jack Aubrey - If cockie's number is (let's keep it vague so as not to give too much away) in double figures, then it is far beyond the number of blank cells I have following the thematic treatments. And, if I have the correct number, it isn't big enough before the thematic treatments.

Hope I won't have to get any more deeply involved in this numbers business - perhaps I've been counting something else altogether? (and I thought we'd got free of numbers for one weekend!}

This was a great puzzle! Thanks for setting it [tba] lots of fun.

dylan:

a) Unless I am mistaken: Definition goes to Yard. The next word is missing a letter, remove one letter (hard) and add 4 more for the special covers.

b) One letter college, 7 letter Valencian. The second word will tell you how these relate when you add a letter to it. You'll also need 2 letters for cheers.

It's a particular native of Valencia (minus c[ollege]) plus 2 letters for 'cheers!' giving an Italian team.

Add a letter to 'but' suggesting boxing (and remove the 'h').

Where '71' falls in a list of primes is a matter of counting up to a double-digit number, but one that would be familiar to the average six-year-old, I think; I agree that the number of blank cells in the final grid matches this number.

[He withdraws, serenely confident that this puts the matter to rest, once and for all...]

Well, I'm glad the 6 year old part of my brain that I reserve for this stuff got it right.
On the other hand, I do not agree with the number of blank cells you've got - and I'm perfectly happy with my solution (I used the more mature part of my brain on that).

I'm sure it must be obvious but I'm not seeing the parsing of the Tube leaking lurid, metallic compound clue. Any hints appreciated.
Apart from that, the 4-letter word I was sure was required for concealing the retreat perhaps isn't as straightforward as I first thought. It will fit in the 10th row to create a longer word...but no other obvious candidates...

It's a straight clue with the metalloid compound (9 letters) losing a word in the clue - def is 'tube', slang.

Lewap - you have to remove 'lurid' from a word meaning 'metalloid compound'.