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About half done, with steady progress. I'm struggling, though, with 36Ac. I thought SUBBUTEO fitted ( though with no relevance to the clue!), but it doesn't now. Nothing in my dictionary. Is it a word?

It's a table football game.

36a starts with V, ends with X and is in Chambers.
I have solved all the clues except 18a and 14d. I want 14d to be FACUAL... but it certainly doesn't fit or make any sense.

Hi Bananabean,

18a Def is Again court (in the romantic sense)
14d Def is Once true. Sacred river, written life story, U.

Thanks, pkd. Grid complete.

It is easy to draw a closed outline through the omitted letters but do I have to indicate the start and end points of the phrase?

Hi Bananabean,

No, I don't think so - the preamble says to draw a closed line but doesn't mention anything else so I've just gone with that.

Thanks pkd. I agree but then you might not have found the phrase!
Unlikely.

It's nice to have more of a challenge on the gridfill this week. I'd call this a balanced puzzle. For anyone still struggling to get a toehold, take what the setter gives you, ie the long across entries. Work your way inwards.

Rossim, I have to correct you. Subbuteo is a 'table-top' football game, not a table football game. Examples of table football were Brighouse, Sokaball...and you'll still find the machines in some pubs, though they became unpopular with the pub business because they took up too much space and you couldn't put £200 into them in a minute. Do you remember Fred Trueman's weekend program about pub sports ?
I'll see thee...

In case anybody wants to not feel alone in their ineptitude, I’ve spent about an hour and have but one across. I am not well though. First winter cold. Any excuse.....I’ll take meursaults advice and pop back in a few days...

I don't know if it's of any help but, Subbuteo is a bit of an "in" joke, as it is the Latin name for the bird of prey commonly called the Hobby. I would get out more, but I'm still, Like Fergal Sharkey, practising my flick-kicks.