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I have finished every EV since Sept 14 (without & with varrying degrees of help). This one is proving a particular struggle - makes me realise how much I rely on crossing letters to help me along (altough I didn't find the recent morse code one too bad).
Stuck on 9; any hints on any of these would be appreciated:
* Cheap fag makes insect perish (6)
* Pacific country once not quite friendly (5)
* French swindlers in Paris are singular reptiles (7)
* Hydrous silicate not soft but fine, subject to conditions (6)
* International in a bit of fun on street is most sensational (7)
* Gold without red is colour for Americans (5)
* Compound used around hard skin (6)
* Recovered cardinal danced around (8)
* Rose aounds like one that's sharp

Tonga was once the "Friendly islands" but this seems a bit thin, perhaps?

Pinite is a hydrous alkaline silicate. With P (soft) replaced by f (fine) it is finite?

I apologise profusely.
Did not read the bit about "hints".

Thanks for that ab.
What I should of said is that the answers are in alphabetic order - the pacific country one is 7 letters long (my mistake) - answer should fit between CYAN & ELAN

* Rose aounds like one that's sharp - 6 letter synonym for rose - and it sounds like something sharp
* Recovered cardinal danced around (8) - 6 letter synonym for danced with 2 letter abbrev for cardinal inside - defn recovered ( not get better , the other re-cover)
* International in a bit of fun on street is most sensational - 4 letter synonym for fun with i inside then add on the "street"

1. the insect is a bee
2 ireland = 4 letter synonym for friendly missing its last letter
french swindlers is the defn - i got that one from the crossers when i had filled in most of the grid
compound... think oxygen compound and add in H

Thanks sudokulover - really helpful

I have been looking at this for 8 days now and I am getting nowhere fast. I have all the clued answers in the grid and, as far as I can see, there is only one possibility for each of 2, 9 and 21 down. I can find several possibilities for 24 down and the interlinked unclued answers in the North-West corner throw up myriad possibilities. Any heavy hints would be most welcome.

All the unclued answers are unique but are not connected apart from that fact.

One is Russian
One is er indoors
These 2 intersect at 1d and 1a


One is a typical sewing related answer you only see in crosswords

You are looking for a mathematician in a diagonal that one of the unclueds help finish off.

His name beginning with F and another word of 6 letters are the theme of the puzzle

Many thanks for those pointers djawhufc. Grid now complete and highlighted. Will big Sam still be there next season?