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9d and 11a elude. Something pan? Something man?

Any subtle hints would be appreciated (Preferably not just the answers outright.)

Cheers.

Minno, I'd love to help, try to help, but I'd need the clues, letter count etc.

11a - USA gent
9d - cheek + sleep reversed

Thanks Malone and Rafflesthegt. Fairly confident of all letters except the mutual one. Will look into cheek synonyms more ardently.

Interesting how the etiquette on different threads has evolved separately. I notice Geeker here from the Guardian cryptics where there's a more reticent approach to hints and help. Perhaps an evolutionary biologist, an etymologist and a sociologist could use such a site for a study.

Or a joke.

A

Bonus clue

I hit this a lot (hic)

Thanks. Phone just froze but pretty much got it straight away after looking on thesaurus. Just stuck in a rut on both clues.

Great - I’m off to hit the you know what, again.

Minno, thanks - though I didn't help much (at all!)

You mentioned the 'etiquette' on the Forum, the variations in threads. It's really just convention that the Guardian and Observer threads get hints rather than answers. That seems to work well, seems to suit most people - but if someone asked for an answer, there's no reason at all not to give it! And different solvers, helpers, have their own codes of conduct, ways of doing things - for example, some people won't give answers to prize puzzles. The only hard and fast Forum rule is that answers aren't given for the Listener puzzle. This is partly to do with that puzzle's status, history etc - and also because it wasn't a success when the Forum did feature answers.

So, an etymologist, a sociologist and an evolutionary biologist go into a bar...