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ah, thanks cloverjo. Not related to the theme then.

Grrr, still can't fathom this one. Can someone give a slightly less subtle hint for what's going on with the replacement letters? ;-)

Struggling with 17A and 18D. Any clues would be helpful!

Thanks for the various nudges. 29d isn't in Bradford's (or at least not under shrubs, bushes, plants, etc) which held me up. I also think "extremely jolly" in 36a is misleading. Just one of those words would have done, but then the clue wouldn't have read so well.

supersub,
17a - 'all of Dior' is a french word for all. Be careful to pick the right one out of the various forms (masc., fem., plural). It's a container clue.
18d - look up the second 'rum' entry in Chambers, then think numbers.

I'm coming to this very late in the day, having spent the Christmas holiday far from the internet (makes a change!). A solid day's work sees me still needing 2D (there's an obvious answer but I can't get the wordplay to work) and 17A which leaves me baffled. Am I right in thinking that once the unclued light has been worked out (done that) and the 4-letter coincidence found (done that) then the tedious business of gazing at pairs is unnecessary? And in my house I have many examples of the central coincidence: in some the longer part completely obscures the shorter while in other the shorter, being fatter, remains visible. I'm inclined to enter the central column in the manner of the second possibility - what do others think? (And a pointer to the two elusive clues would be welcome.)

Overlapped with Dryden - 17A now clear.

Thank you . Just the job. Ray

Cockie, the first three letters of 2d mean "increases" and the second three mean "dangerous". I'm still finding 12a and 17a opaque. I can see what the first four letters of 9d should be from hints but don't see how it can be the past tense of that verb as it would need another letter. I can see what the meaning of 18 down is but not its form.

barretter, 61 above should lead you to 17A - it's a containment clue. And in 9D the S is not in the answer but is needed to give the "mugged".