Guardian - Last 3 - Help To Parse Please

[JJ109]

26a Stop and Chat (5) S _ E _ K
(It must be SPEAK, but why stop?)
4d Most of the school is in old Chennai (6) _ A _ R _ S
It must be MADRAS (old Chennai) but why the rest?
15d Reprise d'enfant mange par bete noire (10) R _ P _ T _ T _ O _
It must be REPETITION (rather than reputation) and I think it is because "petit" = "little one" (enfant) in an anagram of "noire" and definition = reprise (repetition)... "mange" means eat therefore "noire" surrounds "petit". Is my logic correct ?

[JJ109]

15d was also all in italics, and there was an acute accent on the "e" of mange and a circumflex on the "e" of bete

[Jackdaw33]

madrassa is a Muslim school

[iminoz]

15d Yes, with 'bete', stupid or silly, being the anagram indicator for 'noire'

[JJ109]

Thanks Jackdaw

[JJ109]

Thanks Iminoz - My French is mainly forgotten, I didn't understand the bete, as I thought bete noire was a "nightmare"!

[iminoz]

... and 'mange par' with the accent, is the past tense of 'manger', to eat, so it's 'eaten by'

[iminoz]

My high school French is pretty rusty, too.
I'm wondering about 26a, also.

[JJ109]

26a Twee + D

[iminoz]

I meant the one you've listed as 26a - actually 28a.

[JJ109]

oops yes - my mistake 28a

[JJ109]

S + Top = S + Peak

[JJ109]

Many thanks both