Inquisitor 1231

[Neveracrossword]

I got off to a good start, but am now stuck - any help greatly appreciated.
30 A. Certainly one's eaten cod (3) ??k
35 A. Blame English lord for the most part (4) ??re
NB There are 'single-letter definition misprints' in some clues.

[Oldred]

30a oik ?

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, oldred - 'oik' looks good.

[Neveracrossword]

Should have said 'looks good because it's 'cad' rather than 'cod' , certainly is the OK with 'i'/one inside it.

[Calibax]

35 Epee (blaDe)

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks, Calibax - am battling on with this.

[Neveracrossword]

Am now down to my very last clue...
22 D. Up north a little independent country (5) ?a????
PS. There shouldn't be any misprints in this clue.

[Neveracrossword]

Sorry, letters for 22 D should be ?a???.

[Ripper]

Hi Neveracrossword I make 22 down hait(Scots for little)I = HAITI
What I'm having trouble with is understanding the preamble and if the thematic clues are hints to one or two answers. i.e. Pub Toilet what am I looking for?
Sun must have got to me!

[Kobnut]

I too struggled to understand the preamble and i wasn't in the sun! I think it could have been explained better. To take "pub toilet" as an example , pub is the definition of one of the pairs (neither of whose members appear as such in the grid, but one is entered as an anagram) . "toilet" is the definition of something else, part of which is one member of a different pair (and is not entered) ,and the other part of which is a word that is entered.
Similarly the other five thematic clues.

[Ripper]

Thank you Kobnut
So, what you're saying is I take a two word definition of pub (?i.e. free house) and anagram one word to put in a shaded area of the grid, so what do I do with the other part of the pub definition?
Hope you can understand what I'm trying to say here, 'cos I'm just being rather 'blank' today - sorry!

[Kobnut]

Hi Ripper. Pub defines a pair (eg Coach and Horses) - one of the members of that pair is entered as an anagram (eg shores). The other member is one part of the answer to half of a different thematic clue (eg coachwork), but is not entered. It is the other part of that answer (ie work) that is entered in the grid. Very convoluted!

[Ripper]

Thanks Kobnut, you're right it's VERY convoluted
I'll have another look
Enjoy the rest of your weekend

[Neveracrossword]

Ripper, I managed to get Haiti, but forgot to come back to say so - sorry!
I've managed to deal with most of the preamble, but haven't finished.

[Neveracrossword]

I've got most of the pairs now, but have come a cropper - I know what the 17 letters (details in the preamble) spell out, but they (? and ?) are not leading me to any form of pair. If anyone's done this bit, I'd love a little bit of help, direction. Thanks.

[bicycleboy]

Check your 27 Down...

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks - managed to work it all out by myself.

[PuzledBadger]

Hi Kobnut, I understand your explanation of "pub" - thanks very much. But my question now is, what do I do with "toilet"? It seems to me that if each half clue leads to two words then we must be dealing with 24 words and that's more than the 16 (eight pairs).

[Mysterons]

The six thematic clues only deal with six of the pairs PuzledBadger, and the 24 words you refer to include 6 duplications and 6 associations, so 24 - 6 - 6 = 6x2

A+B(anagram), CD(association)
AE(assoc), F+G(anag)
HI(assoc), J+K(anag)
C+L(anag), N(assoc)F
N(anag)+H, OQ(assoc)
O+P(anag), JR(assoc)