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Good morning , all. I've reached my usual Saturday morning grid staring time.
I have all answers except 3 and 30 down. Help appreciated.
Also, no idea of the theme. Is there one source for all of the couples ? I've tried the Bard, but can't see it.

There is only one pair of "associated names" that provides the code for all the shaded entries. Try looking at the letters (ignoring duplicates) of the answers you have for the themers; something may jump out.

3 - final letter 'g' + 3 letters for 'only'.
30 - starts with 2 letters for 'are sold'.

Not WS - a more recent practitioner.

Thank you both. All done except the pesky holiday souvenirs.
If I haven't gone wrong it must be .oss or .ass, but I'm stumped.

Am I looking at a 4 letter abbreviation for a 6 letter word and a really loose definition?

No, Chambers gives a 4 letter word meaning "trinkets bearing the crest of a town, etc, sold as holiday mementos"

Tony... your -OSS version is correct. It's in Chambers, not loose at all!

I didn't see the upper case version. Just knew it had to be correct, but couldn't work out why. Selective blindness. Thanks to all.

I've got all of the answers, other than a couple of the themed ones, but I am completely stumped by the theme. I was hoping two names would leap out of the grid at me, but I can't see anything and would appreciate a hint.

And of my two missing answers, is 2 down as simple as the last letter of the first word followed by a number?

Assuming you mean 3d, yes.

If you have most of the theme answers, you should have all the letters in one of the names - there are no repeated letters. Likewise with crossers you should have many of the letters from the other name from the shaded squares.

If you are WAITING for names to leap out at you, you could be waiting a long time....... (that is a hint!!)