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I think putting the letters in those cells diagonally is better, thanks.

Demeter, I think describing the creature as mythical or legendary (as in the preamble) is overstating it. I would call it fictional, in the same category as the owl and the pussycat who went to sea (though it has nothing to do with Lear). And it is obscure, so hardly legendary. In fact I'd only heard of it before because it was the subject of another crossword like this a few years ago, possibly an Inquisitor or Enigmatic Variations.

I'm with Orson on this - I'd never heard of it before and grid stared for a very long time. In the end I had to Google what I knew about it and then everything fell into place very quickly.

Think 'legendary' is fine in the meaning of 'based on legend or myth'. Appears in books of legendary or mythical creatures and OED describes it as 'mythical'. Agree obscure (I only knew of it from a series of British comedy films!). Books based on animal characters (Owl and Pussycat, Animal Farm etc) have a known author so are basically 'Fairy tales'.

Have highlighted the legendary flyer (8 cells) but cannot dignify the flight path. any hints greatly appreciated.

The flight path is perfectly symmetrical within the grid and it surrounds the 8 cells which you already have.

Look for some repeated letters...

Think of a 1980s sit com and a homophone of your user name for one of the main characters...

You will love it when you finally see it...

Surely if something disappears, you don't see it. So no squares have more than one letter in?

Hi woodlouse, there are three clues (18A, 21A and 5D ) where the length of the answer is one less than the number of cells available, so there has to be some doubling up ( two letters to a cell). This just affects two cells in total.

Sorry...meant to say that the length of the answer is one MORE than the number of cells available.

I am also not convinced this was one for newbies. I am done but some of the word play still evades me. I had 6 entries before I had a word I had heard of and several of the final entries are not in my solving material and took a real hunt around the web to find. Funny bird, cringe-worthy comedy, ultimately enjoyable puzzle.

Thanks everyone for the help.

I've never heard of the legendary flier, so found the endgame very tough.