17A Character encountered in fiction? One's forgotten (6). I have _ E _ T _ E. LEFTIE would fit and the L . . . IE could be the 'fiction', but I can't see how the rest would fit.
7D A little banking marks the river. (5) I have S _ M _ E. SOMME would fit for the river, and 'marks' could be the MM but how does the rest SO..E fit?
Lastly:23D Digit not used when counting to ten (3). I can see the digit is TOE but how does it get there?
Thanks, everyone. Still stuck on 17A. If the 'character' is METTLE, and the 'encountered' is the MET, and 'fiction. One's forgotten' is the L ( I ) E, how do you deal with the extra T in METTLE?