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Lumen, in reply to your post (73), Chambers may not have 'stolid = beefy', but it does have 'beefy = stolid'!
(Always worth checking the reverse entry, as with 'gnu = horned horse' - 21d in Listener 4648.)

Oops! Just scrolled back to post 67, lumen. Apologies for being so didactic...

I've had a busy week, so I've barely had time for might well be the hardest Listener I've ever attempted. I nicked a few hints from the start of this thread, as I was right on the verge of not even bothering to start it - and they got me going. And since then, I've managed to fill in both the top and the bottom of the grid.

I'm seriously struggling on the middle, though - and I'm wondering if I've made a few mistakes on the weaving of my down answers. Would it be possible to get a major hint on the African predicant? Both halves of that clue are proving a struggle,

The clue for the African predicant is

African predicant priest's cape conceding over case for expensive (7)

The priest's cape is also the word for a spotted tile - minus O(ver) and then case for (outer letters of) expensive

Thanks Loge. I was assuming the African predicant would be the 5-letter word, rather than the 7-letter word, so that is what threw me. Got it now!

Finally got there after good few hours spent over the week. Couldn't parse half the across clues (1, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20) but all now clear thanks to the various good people on this thread.

I thought this was great. Very tough but thankfully able to cold solve enough of the downs to be able to then spot words that could plausibly fit the across clues and fortunately it all worked out.

I think I'm going to need one extra hint on an across clue to get me over the line with this one, because nothing seems to fit with my down clues. I have the second word of 15A but I cannot fully parse it - and the first word just isn't happening. It's driving me nuts...

Also, in 16A, am I looking for 'Top'?

The clues for 15 are

One local caught recently casting line hooked (6)

Spot fish occupied by Paddock nothing (6)

The parsings are

UN (local dialect for one) C(aught) (l)ATE i.e. LATE casting/losing L def hooked

COD around (occupied by) ME refers to setter, Paddock + O def spot

Yes, the def of the first word of 16 is top

Here's hoping something a bit easier will be uploaded in a couple of hours' time!

Thanks again Loge! I was so convinced that the c in comedo was coming from caught that I totally overlooked the most obvious fish in the world.

As for uncate, I'd made an error in the weaving of my down clues... and that's threw me completely off track. But I should be there now!

Though I see some have said the endgame is the easy bit I don’t have the first clue on it. Could someone give a pointer or two please?