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Thanks, Brendan, all done and dusted. I'd thought of Cleo's nemesis, especially as I had the last letter, but didn't work out how to combine it with the "Terminally Cleopatra" letter.

LOI: 9a. (Obvious, once I had 3 crossers and a hint!)

For 6d I had the last 6 letters, guessed Olympian as "god", googled the resulting wrong invented surname and found the right chap. I'd guessed the "6" element but for a while thought of the game Go", which didn't help.

Phew, hard work even with forum help, but got there eventually, and it's only Monday.

Thanks for your help, to all concerned.

Finished, with a LOT of help from the forum. Just one I can’t parse: 15a. How does ‘Salon’s No 1 supporter’ work?

Hi Davids,

15a - "salon's no. 1" just refers to the first letter, then 3 letter supporter" + 3 letter "a".

Thanks very much!

I know it’s a long shot since the last post was ages ago but I’m still stuck on 16ac… I think I’ve got it but I can’t see how a precious commodity is a single letter…

The answers and explanations are all on fifteensquared - a very useful site. If you don't know it, look here (spoilers):

https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/03/01/guardian-saturday-prize-crossword-29625-by-enigmatist-22-february-2025/

Hi digitalis, the clue parses as a two-letter commodity (think heraldry)inside a five-letter branch. Town is the definition

Sorry people, I obviously can’t count. I see a two letter precious commodity. What a pain this crossword was. Couldn’t have solved it without this thread 🙏🏻

Of course I’m just venting now, but I think far too many clues contained ridiculously obscure references (3dn? 19ac? 11ac two out of three forwards; the two letter “forwards” is not listed as a synonym on the Oxford Languages website unless I got it wrong (defn. overall?)) Some people are just too clever by half.