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Sybila, Re 15a. Def is the last 6 words - a shortened term for a (4-6 when plural) word. My Chambers app only returned the singular 5-letter version. 'Dates' is a verb.

Sybila, 'dates' is as in dating a person and the result is, I think, a term for 2nd year students at certain Scottish universities. (It wasn't in Chambers but I think an Internet delve provided that).

Could be wrong!

Granama1, it’s in Chambers in a roundabout way. Look up the first four letters, and you will see it under the fourth definition. Look that up and it confirms the meaning

Sybila, the 9-letter words are the protagonists in the far left and right columns

Thank you, all. Full grid and another hint should inspire me to keep trying.

I am almost finished but I am having trouble identifying where the 6 vertical bars go. Rows 3, 4 and 8 contain long strings of non-words and I cannot see how to split them up to make real words. Any help appreciated.

Thanks Quisling,

I just did that and spotted the full version I'd seen on Googling. 👍

(Have to say when this q? was raised it took me a short while to remember my parsing of 'dates'. Had a bit of a head scratch!).

Tomsdad, they are all symmetrical. Try 4,4,4, then 4,6,4, then 5,4,5

Thanks quisling. I was trying to find words that represented a "border loss" rather than just words that crossed the border!

Quisling, I'd left row 4 in the 'too hard' basket, as I was trying to fit in 2 bars. - 4,6,4, works, but does that need 8 vertical bars totally?