It's something like ----COPHAGE or (more likely) --COPHAGOUS, I think - but the Koranic verses bit has me stumped, and the whole is (I reckon) a word I don't know.

Got it, it's SARCOPHAGUS. The COP/HAG part is at Wol suggested, and it's surrounded by SURAS, i.e. Koranic verses, except it's backwards, which there's no indication of. The definition part is cleverly obscure, I had to search for this to confirm it. , Koranic verses might be indicating SURAS, but SURAPHAGOUS SARCOPHAGUS

Ignore the fragments after the part that makes sense.

[Raak, Wol] Thunderous applause Good work.
A spot on the unfair side, I think; the experiment was in judging difficulty. If you hadn't got it, I'd have reposted as Flesh-eating Greek crone.... I do wish I could find a way to indicate the reversal of SURAS without losing the neatness and sense of the clue...

Hmmm - seeing as you say so, I'd agree. The English word doesn't mean flesh-eating (or anything like it); it merely derives from a foreign word that means that. Now, if the answer had been sarcophagous ... the clue could have been flesh-eating crone to love following pig draped in Koranic verses!

"Paul's about to compile, going back into business for very little money abroad" -E-T-S-M- (Paul is the setter.) And I promise not to emit furious noises if you get it this time!

[MF] I suspect it's CENTESIMO being the Uraguayan sub-currency. I except you'll be able to work out how to get there from the clue, so I shan't insult you by explaining it. Look forward to sitting down with a crossword later...

There's an "EN" I can't account for.

Took me a while to re-work out the logic: it comes from the fact that Paul's = MINE.

How about Scale back creature (6)

Only thing I can think of is animal, not a common usage of "scale" though.

I think it works, but it's ambiguous. It could equally well be LAMINA by taking the clue the other way.

Nice to see you back [Blob]. This game's lost a bit of momentum, what with you being temporarily frozen out - and rab peregrinating all over the place. Anyway, I left a clue a while back - which doesn't appear to have been solved. I think it's disappeared off the top.

[Chalky] I'm not sure ever been accused of that before... I hope it's legal.

[rab] Great word, eh? One could imagine Kenneth Williams squeezing every last sinewy syllable out of it - much like the way he uttered his favourite word 'proclivities'.

Yes indeed either or both - I agree it's ambiguous, but in a xwd situation you'd soon work out which it was from the letters present - that's often the case with "back" - could apply to either half. As to the use of scale : The Concise OED has for "Lamina", A thin plate or scale - but I agree it's not the first word that jumps to mind for scale.
[Chalky] I'll have a look for your clue.
Whilst I know that peregrinations actually refer (usually) to fairly leisurely wanderings, the word always makes me think of the falcon - which is far from leisurely, being (how to start a arguement) the fastest creature on earth.

Would that be approach ( a pp (very quiet) roach (fish = swimmer) ) by any chance ?

It can make notes to change your beginning as a afterthought (8)

Though it makes no difference to the clue - grammatically that should of course be an afterthought.

Blob]With several days without any attempts could you give a letter or two clue as if part of a crossword.
In the mean time I have had to retreat from the attemt at solving the crossword in one of the broadsheets as I became depressed in my ever worsening attemts. However, I seem to have found my level in one of the tabloids, as an example of difficulty of my daily battle here are two from todays
Wisdom of metropolis ending involved account (8)
Traits game shows up in man at court (10)
Needless to say when really stuck (frequently) there is always the 'Coffee Time' clues.

Perhaps No 1 sagacity? That is, 'metropolis' = city and 'saga' being an involved account.

Maybe No 2 'magistrate' - an anagram of 'traits game'?

Dujon]yes both are correct. In the crossword itself the one clue I was unable to complete I did not post,
"In a team, where one is kept if ostracised?(5) with _S_E_. With the 'S' from the end of "Very good apprentices, having these(7)"NOVICES and 'E' from the begining of "Passionately state (and retract) demand?(7)" EXCLAIM.
We went round and round in frustrated circles in the office. Till the anwer in this morings paper, the correct answer was ASIDE, because EXCLAIM should have been DECLAIM.