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Hi Rosencrantz,
30a ‘balance’ as in what’s left over (four letters). The middle bit is an anagram.
31a two letters ‘next to’ inside three letters ‘fool’.

rosencrantz - 30: first 3 and last letters give a word that is indicated by balance in money matters - like a bank account. 31 is 3 -letter word for fool around 3-letter word for next to

Thanks to rogissimo for help with 26d. I mistakenly thought 30a was an antonym, so I was all over the place.
Peace at last!

Thanks rogissimo! I was looking for a three-letter ‘balance’, thinking the anagram included one letter more than it does…

Only just got round to starting this and haven't gone through all the posts, so apologies if this has already been asked:-

15a - Apprentice gives boss endless fun (7)

It looks like a normal clue with a 4 letter "boss" but I cannot get "endless fun" from the last 3 - I've tried adding an extra letter to the end (to take account of the "endless"), then beginning and then both, but none of the possibilities means "fun"?

Me too Moonjets. I can still only see three letters after dealing with the anagram and don't understand the leftover word for balance. Unfortunately, I haven't got any crossers in this part of the crossword

I had no trouble with the instructions and having started even later than usual (I needed to take the decorations off the tree and get it back in the garden) I've only done about half and have just 5 of the antonyms. Mostly, I haven't had any trouble identifying the antonyms I've got. I still can't get 13d despite hints above. I've just got it!!! But 13ac is a mystery. I haven't worked out what to anagramise in 6d. I can't see the grass in 5d. In some cases I can see the definition in the clue and work out a word that means the opposite, then find the original answer from the antonym.

I hated the Maskerade crossword - just no time in run up to Christmas - loved the alphabetical, which was easy. This one may prove too difficult for me,

Can I have a hint for 14d. I thought it was an anagram, but can't work out the letters needed. I'm also having trouble with 19d. I thought that would be an anagram too.

FOI was 11ac closely followed by 18ac.

I'll be back

Hi roof. 14d is a word I was not familiar with. Definition is the first word of the clue and the wordplay is an anagram around “R” for resistance.

Brendan, that’s the only one I’m still scratching my head over.

Hi Roof,

14d - Is an anagram, but uses a rare meaning of "without" that means 'goes around' rather than leaves out.

Brendan,

15a. In my cursory pass at the puzzle (left a few words blank without searching for antonyms), I could sort of justify that answer (in an unsatisfactory way) by taking the first 3 letters of a common 13-letter word for "fun".