Catholic Herald

[dave1948]

14d Leap year in the early days (6)
S???N? Spring ?

11d Cushion cover (8)
I?????T?

3d.Fixes plain-clothes sergeant in the end (6)
?M???S Amends ?

[factor-fiction]

Yes- Amen +DS

[sandyRoe]

amends looks ok. the end...amen+DS...detective sergeant
spring looks ok, too

[penelope2]

11. Insulate

[dave1948]

Thank you Factor30 and sandyRoe

11d should be Cushion cover? (8)

[penelope2]

Still think 'Insulate' is appropriate for 11d. i.e Cover or protect.

[dave1948]

Thank you Penelope 2 My computer froze and before I saw your answer I came up with insulate but am not sure

I now have too to do which are
8a Vikings came from here in One Thousand and Four and deserted to go back (6) N?R?I? which looks like Nordic but why ?

18a Couple's dead-heading is concerning (6) R?L?T? which looks like relate but again why ?

[sandyRoe]

concerning...Re+ late...dead

[shoota]

18a Relate - couples counselling service perhaps? Tenuous but possible.

[dave1948]

Thanks SandyRoe again

I just done see how the couple fits unless just re

[Wharton]

8a Narvik

[cathfromsaron]

narkiv (ran back and 1004 in roman numerals)?

[dave1948]

Thanks Shoota tenuous but possible

[cathfromsaron]

*narvik i meant to type

[penelope2]

8a. Is Narvik. (deserted= ran, reversed) +kiv (reversed).

[dave1948]

Thank you Wharton and cathfromsaron

[penelope2]

Try this one for size:
Couples = Connected with or Related to. Remove (d) 'dead heading' = Relate, which in this sense could mean 'connected to' or 'concerning something'.
A bit convoluted but..........

[cathfromsaron]

i like it penny

[penelope2]

Thank you cathfromsaron.

[dave1948]

I hadn't sen some of these later posts until now but it just proves what brilliant people are on Answerbank

[mike11111]

Hate to disagree with previous posters but I think Emends rather than Amends