I agree. Very challenging.
10a welloiled = sloshed. Spring = well then even letters ( regularly)of Loki already
4d royalties = payments for work. Royal = prince, for one, ans ties = limits.
1. First answer is only = just. Lyon is Scottish herald and cycle letters. Second answer is etherises, ie put to sleep with ether = takes sense away. Letters es and es with THE RI ( royal Institution) inside.
All answers follow the same pattern - all touching diagonally - on the outside you have 3 lines of 3 cells each [in the cells between them you place the 4 letter word, also in a diamond pattern]. I'll try to give you how it looks from 1d...
Thanks ProfessorM.
Answers to worlds seem to be 9 and 4 in length.
I did not follow your guidelines of 3 lines of 3 cells.
I am not seeing where Etui or Arna go.
I.....A....T
..N....L.....E
....S....O....S
This gives - INSOLATES if you enter zigzagging it in a diamond pattern (the INS is in cells marked 1,2+3). ONLY goes inbetween, anti-clockwise from the cell to the left of the one numbered '4'.
By the way, you're working the threes backwards from cells 1,2+4 (TES goes from 3 to 8). And yes, everything is either 4 or 9 letters [the grid is 9 of these 13 cell diamond shapes 9x13 = 117 in all].
This pattern is repeated throughout - a zigzag from top to bottom L-R,R-L,L-R but the answer can either begin at the top or the bottom of the shape, running up the way or down the way.
You really can't place the 4 letter answers until you've got the 9s in place, and ou also need the numbered clues [and even then some of them are ambiguous - ETUI being one of them!].
hankir, if you're continuing with this please correct a mistake I made earlier - it is (Golda) MEIR not 'emir' [I missed the fact that ''emir' only fits in the grid as an anagram, sorry].