Independent 9,941 by Daedalus

Not the easiest. I’m embarrassed to say how long it took, even with all sorts of aids. But no real complaints — one or two things that seemed at the time to be stretching things a bit but which in retrospect are probably fair enough, and some very good clues. And help needed with 28ac, please.

Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

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Independent 9,936 by Phi

The usual utterly sound and enjoyable crossword from Phi. Nothing at all controversial, so far as I can see.

Although Phi often has a Nina he apparently never uses this as an excuse to have less than 50% checking. OK some people don’t regard this as important, but sticklers like me do. (Some people would replace the word ‘sticklers’ by ‘pedants’.)

Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.

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