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I've done most of the bottom half, but top left corner is still virtually empty. Also, I've still no sense of the message, except that it includes IXT. Any offers?

I'm finding this one almost impossible to get into for some reason. Hoping the light will dawn soonish... sorry I can't help, unless you are missing 2 or 4dn in the top left? But then those are the easier ones, I think...

Why is 2d mentioned in the preamble? Seems a perfectly normal word, not just in OED.

i have danger for 2d but could well be wrong!

18d (extra S) & 30a (extra R?) seem normal but they clash so I must be wrong somewhere!?

EVERY clue has an extra letter in the wordplay, and EVERY clue yields an answer that is a normal word. The tricky bit is that six of them are rogues - the extra letters don't count and the entries are different. You have to keep solving until you can identify the rogues.

The preamble doesn't say EVERY clue has extra letters....
i read the preamble to say in "other" clues there is extra letter so there is no extra in the 6 rogues?

Xwordfan, I think Dryden has described accurately what's going on. Every clue has an extra letter. But in the 6 rogue clues the extra letter isn't used for the advice. Eventually you'll be able to identify the rogue clues, either through clashes, or through the extra letter not making any sense to the narrative...

Thanks Meursault for making "things clearer".

I don't think I could have made things any clearer without spelling out the solution. My use of capital letters was intended to emphasise that all the clues do, contrary to appearances from the preamble, have an extra letter. The preamble may mislead, but it is not incompatible with what I said, thus it is not unfairly misleading.