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I was a bit surprised to see that from someone other than Paul. I learned a new word in 16d, and snorted at 14 so that has to be my COD. Not sure I get 18. I see the definition and the usual queen, but the rest eludes me.

Hi Darla,

18d - "strain" as in an 'effort' is the three letters around the "queen".

1d new word to me too although, that said, I might have come across it in Gladiator, Rome or I Claudius etc.

Thanks, Brendan. I was fixated on the wrong queen.

Thanks Darla, I went down the exact same route so knew instantly what you meant.

@12 - To prevent any confusion I meant 16d not 1d (problems with certain keys on my laptop)

Agreed that the Pauline clue was ...(searching for words)...on the sleazy side. At the risk of seeming sexist, I was surprised that Arachne came up with it. Even from Paul it would have struck rather a sour note.

Mogwai@10

No doubt a coincidence but answers like 10a, 24a, and 19d do seem to be 'of a kind', while 12a hints at the consequences or lack thereof.

I've decided I'm not happy with my parsing of 13a. If I'm coorect, it's 3,2,3 around "lead to mortifying" - but, if that's right, how is the meaning of 3,2,3 any different to 3,3 and are either really defined by "backgound" - assuming "checks" is a containment indicator?

Enjoying this a lot. I expect a lot of Fois will be 9. Cod so far 22 easily. For those who haven't seen it, Pulp Fiction is magnificent.

Brendan re 13a I think it parses as 1 inside an 8 letter word, and yes ‘checks’ is used as a containment indicator. I love the terminology for crosswords! Containment indicator is not a term I would have come up with…

Thank you FemmeNoire,

This was a case 'couldn't see the wood for the trees'. if ever there was one!