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Hi Grum,
48 ceremony = ritual in the clue
22 the reference is to Samuel Barber and his famous work. The answer parses 2 letters (present) + 4 letters (commission)
47 those three letters are a word for study, though the usage is archaic. It crops up in crosswords quite often so worth remembering
52 parses 1 letter from the clue + 4 letters for the road charge

Hi Grum,

48 - "ritual" = 'ceremony' then you follow the instruction in 62d leaving you with a word meaning "wrap up a body in cloth"

22a - 2 letter acronym for "present" (time) + a word meaning "commission" (on currency trades)

47a - you start with a 12 letter word meaning "undecided" and remove a 3 letter "study" (it's an old Edmund Spenser word meaning 'to know, learn or study' leaving you with "comprehensive"

52a - I can't see a 52a?

Apologies Grum I see it now ...

52a - A from the clue + 4 letter "road charge" gives you an "island"

Thanks so much, Jono and Brendan. I got confused with what was the definition for 48d, and I didn't know the 4-letter word. Thanks for info regarding 47a- one to remember. For 22a, - yup, not heard of the one part, and would never have guessed the other from ' present'...but of course now makes perfect sense. As for 52 a, actually I meant 53a, and the P has now D'd. (Actually I think it must have done when I first wrote it in, but then I just forgot!). Enjoyed the crossword and always find this forum helpful and informative, even when I don't contribute.

Apologies if I missed this in early posts on this thread. For 14d and 51d, are there two possible thematic pairs that could fill these? I think I haven't used those pairs in any other answers...
14d. First two letters as thematic pair
51d. Middle two as thematic pair

Hi BM,

14d - There are a few letter pairs that are thematic and make words but only one that can go in the front and is geographically correct.

51d - Yes, middle 2 letters.

14d - if you've already got 8d and 10d then you'll see one that fits right between those two:-)

Ah cheers :). Had forgotten the geographically appropriate aspect as I approached my final grid completion. Thanks so much! Xx

Thanks Buzzermaster, glad you got it all sorted:-)

Sorry if this has already been covered, 151 posts is too many for me to read.

Enjoyable puzzle. 2 loose ends for me.

78a - is the pre addition answer an Australian party - I can't find any justification for this? I have i and g as the unchecked letters.

I am a bit bemused by the 5 French and German words. Apart from the Spanish name and the English actor, I only have 1 word that wouldn't be allowable in any regular crossword as far as I can see, and that is the entry for VA.

I can see the NM entry could count as 2, but as that's a well used phrase in English, I can't see why that would need to be flagged. Anyone identify any other French or German words?

Thanks