Times Jumbo 2448

[stevenj]

Is it just me? I have really struggled with this puzzle and,even now I don’t know why the answer might be right or wrong.
Let me try one or two
32d bird soaring over cape,, then height almost halved. Coal tot fits and that’s a bird...
52 ac a flavour of how fan gets to feed. Aniseed fitsandthat’s aflavour. And I see that fan and feed both have an f at the beginning which could be dropped. But why?
49 ac character needed toget themesure of acidtrst. Both phi and psi fit. But which?
21ac leading couple in formation dance swapping places an awful lot . Octillion is an awful lot. But?

That will do for starters
steven

[Lie-in King]

32d Coal tit - 'o(ver) c(ape)' (up; soaring) + 'altit(ude)' (almost halved)
52a Aniseed - from 'fAN' to 'fEED', 'an is eed'
49a Phi - 'PH1'
21a Octillion - 'cotillion' (dance, leading couple swap places)

Hi Steven - I hope you & yours have been keeping well?

[JJ109]

21 Cotillion is a formation dance leading couple Co swapping places reversed = Oc

[Neveracrossword]

2q1 Cotillion is a formation dance, swap the first two letters, so Octillion, an awful lot.

[stevenj]

Thanks a million. I still don’t see why the Fs in fan and feed are dropped, though.
And my knowledge of dance doesn’t include cotillion.Something learnt!
We are very well. Lie in King . His Nibs and I are findingsocial distancing pretty tough. But we are obeying! SWMBO is a tower of strength for us!
I have been reading two enormous books by a Russian called Vasily Grossman. They are both about the battle for Stalingrad in the Second World War. Very powerful. Puts our present difficulties into context!
I hope you are all well. Keep safe! I need your advice and wisdom!
steven

[Lie-in King]

The fs aren't dropped - f(an) gets to f(eed) (if) an is (=) eed