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Thanks very much, both.
I had the O of 16 already coloured to indicate an omission, but still the brain ignored that...I haven't seen H used for 'Hand' in isolation before, and it isn't in my (older) Chambers.

Grid filled, phrase found, but no idea how to decide which 40 to black out; any hints?

Hello Greengage,

Start by "highlighting" all the letters which must stay (90 degree symmetry of the phrase) and then look at the longer words to get 4 symmetrical long words

Sorry, Meursault, I should have made it clear that "hh" is the abbreviation given in Chambers for "hands" as in the height of horses.

I thought I was getting somewhere but I am worried I might be going wrong. Can you just confirm that, where a letter is 'missing' from wordplay in one clue, that letter is also missing from any corresponding checked clue? So, for example, 1d and 12a share the first letter of 12a as missing from both clues. If this is the case, is it adhered to at all times? Now I read the preamble for the zillionth time, it suggests to me that this is the case, but I'd just like to be sure. Thanks.

Hi, rrrobbo.

13 of the 15 missing letters are checked. In both the across and the intersecting down clues, these letters are omitted in the wordplay of both the across and the down clues. The intersection of 1d and 12a is a good example of this - the letter at the intersection is in the thematic phrase, and so is omitted from the wordplay for both clues.

The remaining 2 missing letters are unchecked. They are both in across clues in the lower half of the grid.

Several clues contain more than one omitted letter.

Thanks again, Wintonian. I've never seen that abbreviation used before, one of the reasons I like Listener crosswords so much - always learning !

rrRobbo, most omitted letters occur only singly in entries. But entries 6A, 16A, 32A and 5D have multiple omitted letters. The wordplay in these clues reflects all the omissions.

Why is Potter's goal SNITCH in 6? Thanks.

Hello Unclued,
Both the T and H are omitted, leaving SNIC. Chambers has 'cut out' as a meaning for SNICK. As for what Harry Potter, or any other potter wants, I can't really help...

Thanks Meursault - I got the wordplay but Harry Potter has passed me by.......Just got the SE corner to fill. I'm enjoying this one.