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escuan, does this help?

28a - thematic - 7 word for parades + A. Given that this will end "...SA", and if you've got the theme, you can have a decent guess as to what sort of word the answer is.
33a - really mean, I thought. Thematic. First word, in the thematic context, is the definition, and I got it just by googling and reverse engineering the wordplay. X here is a Greek letter.

15a - if you've got the answer, then try feeding it plus "b" and the missing letter into an anagram solver to get a word meaning "watered"

22d - non-thematic! Four letter word for a form of public transport missing its second letter, next to a three-letter vehicle written backwards.

23d - non-thematic. Three-letter word meaning conserve starts it off, which should get you there.

25d - also non-thematic. "The French" is one of the two two-letter words it usually is. Definition is pervert.

Good luck...

28 word for parades +a (thematic)
33 also struggling
22 def is a metal 2 forms of public transport the second backwards. Remove a letter from quote
23 def is myrtle and starts with conserve followed by cake and l (remove letter from cake))
25 is word for pervert starting with French the
15 iwordplay is obscure word for watered without a b and an e ( from quote)
Hope this helps - I am struggling with 19 and also have a conflict in top right where for 17a I have 3rd letter an r but the light for 8d does not contain an r !

Hi Bambi123

17a The 3rd lette is L. A normal clue begins with o

19- Begins with s and the book in wordplay is one from the bible beginning with A

Thanks - had the wordplay confused with the definition in 17a. All complete one. It was a slog but satisfying conclusion. Also am in the group that doesn't understand title!

For the title, do the first four letters to the rest of it!

Greengage, the 4th letter of 13d is not M, which explains why you cannot see the second speaker. There's no clue 38 so cannot help you there.

Long, obscure jumbled names sharing many letters in common, almost 40% of grid jumbled, difficult clues - none of this endeared me to the setter. A rather inelegant puzzle, I thought. It had little thematic unity and the second quote is well-worn by now, having been used at least twice before.

Greengage, it is the second letter of 13dn which is M ; and the sixth letter of 28ac (I presume you mean 28, ot 38) which is R.

Thanks Dryden, Barretter; in fact I meant 33....

... and can now see the name clearly, not sure how I missed it when grid-staring earlier

I'm in full agreement with you this time, Dryden. So what is the connection between Italian women and a controversial UK PM ? And as you say, "The lady's not for turning" is past trite. The other answers weren't 'turned', they were 'mobile'. As for the other author, it seemed entirely unsatisfactory to have to deal half in Italian, half in English. I take it that the setter wasn't up to the challenge of getting 'KEOF' into the NW section of the diagonal...