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drxx

I have got vacant cells but are you saying there arent any? does the Capitals matter?

jigjag - I'm guessing you went for the other option and removed FAIRIES from the perimeter leaving vacant cells - and making non-words of 11ac, 4 and 5dn (one of them a thematic entry).
Also, the first sentence of the preamble is no longer accurate if we remove part of the first synonymous phrase (well, that was my reasoning, plus the capitals 'hint' - if it is one - but you may be right).

I can't think of another way that would leave vacant cells in the finished grid, please let me know if there is another way (I'm not totally convinced by my own interpretation of the preamble - I really don't like puzzles where we must guess what the setter had in mind).

Drxx, like you, I had no vacant cells in the grid - and didn't really expect to. I thought the VACANT cells lead us to the thematic stuff, all 'vacant'. The only hesitation I had was with 33 A, which initially had some vacancies, but I filled those (rightly or wrongly).

Hi drxx, I believe jigjag is referring to the 3 entries relating to phrase 2. The "not required" letters are either unchecked or mutually cross.

In the clues for 33a, 24d and 25d, the definitions are Contented, tangle and palm, so the “defined entries” are glad, ore and ita. These have to be entered spaced out, so there will be vacant cells between the letters.

Thank you rad and drxx. The comments about vacant cells has now given me further food for thought.

I did it your way malone. The letters that 'spaced' the defined answers were given by the wordplay each time. There is nothing in the preamble to suggest that only the definitions are to be entered, unless we think this is what the 'VACANT cells' line in the preamble is getting at.

ginge - I didn't have OURIE as one of the examples of the second phrase, if it is a normal entry it would have to lose its 'i' for GoLiArD to be entered as G-L-A-D.

Unfortunately I'm relying on memory for most of this, so I might have some of the details wrong. It's certainly possible that there are various interpretations of the preamble - which is a major flaw with the puzzle I think.

Yes, you're right rad (I've found the clues now). The 'i' would be a crosschecked letter, so you could well be right ginge/jigjag.

Hi again drxx, OuRiE is one such entry as confirmed by rad. It won't help that you don't have the puzzle in front of you.

Rad, that all makes perfect sense - thanks! I battled my way through this and was relieved to fill (completely fill!) the grid. My error(s) would have been down to not parsing clues!