Seven items of a kind read clockwise round the perimeter. In ten clues, cryptic indications omit reference to parts of answers; these parts must be highlighted, to reveal a definition of the perimeter items. Letters in corner squares and those adjacent to them could form WADERS, NOT OLD.
Across
11 Spirit and ogre in retreat talk dismally (5)
12 Stooge deserted after charge (4)
13 Revolutionary failure to capture current head (5)
14 Soul in small room following international game (7)
15 Insect holding attention around greenery in magnolia (10, hyphened)
17 Peasant, young, having day off (5)
20 Judge stopping song when nastily discounting singular artist (8, two words)
21 Digits in this way divided by doctor (6)
23 Award to drop over cliff (4)
26 Band in drama cutting turf (5)
27 Digger, first to last, unarmed (5)
28 Look on area between eye and bill (4)
30 Great number for example enthralled by object of interest (6)
31 Curved implement cut round weed (8)
36 Laughable ruler turned and left (5)
38 Euphoric about initiation rite worked out in detail (10)
39 Ridge in row around strange lake (7)
40 Wild ass in Baku languishing (5)
41 Inclination to discard soft fruit (4)
42 Length in celebrated chain (5)
Down
2 Odd island mass in watery part (7)
3 Class of plants, because eaten by lemur, absent (10)
4 Amount round skin blemish (6)
5 German league without special cup (5)
6 Minister carrying electronic receiver (8)
7 Arbiter, variable, elevated once in company (5)
8 Real working ovens (5)
10 Hooks up during romantic number (4)
16 Bend wing, front part (5)
18 Container near middle of store (4)
19 Waste hunt, awfully unpleasant (10, two words)
22 Show deference in ship with knight aboard (5)
24 Vector in ground plan (8)
25 Sailor indeed going north, getting further (4)
29 Dogs in parking lots (7)
32 Solo reputation certainly not rising (6, hyphened)
33 Check answer in volume (5)
34 Only take upper room (5)
35 Chimney sweep’s first utterance (5)
37 Pale, tormented and bound (4)
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 21 April. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. (UK solvers can choose to receive the latest edition of the Chambers Dictionary instead of cash— ring the word ‘Dictionary’.) Entries to: Crossword 2156, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.
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