Happily, three pieces of confusion have already been resolved!
Nevertheless, that still leaves the following:
2 down: Country remedy ending before it begins, as tumult intervenes (7)
Thanks to cross clues, I got country = ecuador. What I didn’t get was everything else.
1 down: Entitled 5-down (Dickensian) in alcohol-free tedium (8)
Again, cross clues enabled me to get tedium = drudgery, but my dislike of Dickens generally left me none the wiser for the rest of the clue.
Can someone enlighten me here?
re 2 down: this was good fun I thought. Obviously “country” was the key word and the answer goes like this:
”remedy = “cure” .Ending of the word “cure” is “e” before its beginning “cur” gives “ecur”.The “tumult” intervening is “ado” hence ecuADOr
re 1 down: I have to admit I quite like Dickens and the title of one of his better known works is Barnaby Rudge.( Certainly helps if you know that one.)
So entitled Dickensian “Rudge” in alcohol-free “dry” gives dRUDGEry.