Thank you - we had surreptitious in but changed it to accommodate 12d giving the answer CONTINUE for MAINTAIN and also14d, giving the answer USELESS for INCOMPETENT. CAN YOU HELP ME SORT OUT THE MUDDLE?
Leics, next time can you use ? instead of / for your missing letters, please? it makes it easier to read this end (and we don't all have the DT in front of us).