Many thanks andyp for the nudge which together with HW7's confirmed my initial answer which I now understand. After 50 years on and off of the Listener my obtuseness still amazes me.
I'm sure it's of little consequence, Unstuck, but I did exactly the same thing - misunderstood the particular "boundaries" in question. Tied myself up in knots trying to parse this one and went down the exact same "went" as in 'relieving oneself' route that you did:-)
...in fairness to myself, which is something I always try to be, I had considered the answer very early on in the solving process but just couldn't convince myself that the definition in the clue matches the one in Chambers - truth be told, I'm still not 100% happy with it but there you go:-)
Finding myself deeply and embarrassingly puzzled by this one. I have solved many clues but only (I think) two theme answers; I have the quote and highlighted author. I thought I understood the nature of the thematic operation, having successfully applied it one of my two themed answers. But in 7dn (which crosses with my seemingly-correct theme answer), the word that seems appropriate to remove is a bit that seems like it should actually be in the grid; and also, removing that word wouldn't result in a real remaining word. Can anyone possibly nudge me into the right way of thinking about this?
Hi crowdedmorning, if you have the right coarse material for 7d that middle section you remove matches the theme, just be sure to check ALL its definitions in Chambers.
Indeed, graham9perkins. I eventually realised I was slightly off in my understanding of the nature of the thematic words. I now have four thematic words sorted—but only seven definitely understood clashes, so still quite a ways to go.
I have finished, complete grid, clashes, theme, author etc. BUT I have used only 5 rejections, and I cannot see where the sixth is needed.
The total of the clue numbers of the 5 I have is 108. Help to find the sixth would be appreciated.