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I am hoping that the silence and lack of entries on AB indicate that this is as hard as I think it is and not just that everybody is too busy with Christmas! 6 definite, several dodgy, two hours and counting 8-)

I'm with you rrrobbo, this is very difficult. So far only 9 definite. The clues are made even harder because Paddock has a nautical theme running through every one, even though the answers are not nautical, so far.

With you on that. After an hour just 8 (and two of those can't parse). Plus two quadrants still completely empty. Hopefully brain working better tomorrow!

A full grid, I think. I'm yet to make the replacements, though it looks as if all of the battleship is given by a group of extra letters. In which case, I'm not sure what the point is. Just give us some letters and we'll enter them into the grid...

I have a problem with 38. Having looked in 2 different flora, I think the answer is not Broom, merely similar.

Same position as you Mersault. Looking at Plantagenet in Chambers does lead to Broom.

I may be wrong but I have anagram of ratings+E. One extra letter that give me broom.
Ending in A.

I have only a handful so far.

Yes, Notrab and Sunray, you're both right. But I'm not convinced that you can call this thing just 'Broom'. An old Collins Pocket Guide gives Broom as genera Sarothamnus and Cytisus. The 38A genus is described as Petty Whin, Dyer's Greenweed or Hairy Greenweed. Makins describes Petty Whin as 'Needle Furze.'

The replacements are pretty straightforward, though the anagramming of the extra letters gives surprising results in a couple of cases. And one of the replacements is counter-intuitive in that it sinks a cruiser...

Collins describes the word as genus that includes many varieties of broom

Muersault,

Thanks for the information on endgame.
I have about 10 answers, so far from finish line.

Strangely, 38 is one of the few that I solved quite quickly. It is indeed an anagram of "ratings" plus "e" including one extra letter. Chambers details the Latin origin of the word defined as broom.