Saturday Times Jumbo Cryptic 1281 Sunday August 27Th 2017

[hope3fully]

23d considers verbal techniques 6 -e- - - s 27d 17 defector on island heading for london 8- - - - -nol 42a sadly dishearened male,shy retiring character 6 -y-b-l 54a current parliament recalled for work 5 i-i-m

[Neveracrossword]

23 Weighs, considers - sounds like Ways, techniques.

[Captain2]

42 S(h)y-m-bol (lob/shy reversed)

[Neveracrossword]

54 Iliad, work (piece of literature) . I = current and Dail = Parliament (recalled, reversed).

[elliemay1]

Iliad?

[Neveracrossword]

17. Rational? Rat, deserter +Iona, island+L, London. I feel there's a definition missing.

[hope3fully]

many thanks

[Captain2]

Nac, the clue is 27d and starts '17 defector ......' so presumably the definition comes from the answer to '17'

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Captain - I didn't notice the 17!