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Thanks Brendan - I was thinking that he must be the answer, but had assumed that names were not permitted. How wrong I was!
Have worked out where I went wrong on 50d now too, so all done. Cheers!

Great stuff, thanks Docrum:-)

Wow what a mammoth! A brilliant creation, just about the right balance for me for a bank holiday giant - I'm definitely in Castafiore's camp rather than Chrise this week,

I think I've got there at last, working on the paper version with a printed figure to help me with the pairs of letters and their locations, and quite a few nudges from the lovely people here. I'll now have to fill it in on the guardian puzzles app and see if I get a tick (if it's still interactive there, it hasn't always ticked for the Prize puzzles let alone the giant grid)
Foi 16a, LOI 80a - delayed because I struggled with 67d, thinking the reference to 23 meant the answer on the grid rather than the 4-letter word clued. I think 61a just gets COD among several contenders. Word of the day (weekend) is definitely 'disambiguated'!

Roof, I'm so pleased your Simnel cake survived: I felt wierdly guilty at enjoying a puzzle that had apparently caused such damage. I hope your back recovers but obv you can't just scrape off the imperfect surface there!

Thanks to all the help and chat. At these Bank Holiday weekends I desperately miss my departed sister-out-law and mother-out-law, with whom I used to enjoy doing the big holiday puzzles. You guys are lovely - I'm afraid not really a substitute, but definitely the next best thing!

I might catch you all on Everyman, otherwise I hope I'll see you next week. Stay lucky!

What a lovely post, many thanks Luko:-)

Enjoying the challenge and grateful for all the help from you guys! Another dinosaur who usually looks forward to my Saturday paper and crossword . However I’m in Australia visiting my son , thought I would be able to access it online! However my son has managed to print copy from pdf , I think it may take me rest of week but am making progress. 21a was particularly apt. Hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday.

Hi DHope,

That sounds lovely, hope you and your son have a great visit:-)

Good morning everyone and happy Easter. I’ve finished the beast apart from 49D which refuses to budge. I have ?A?I?R?T?D which seems to give only one word but I have no idea of parsing or the theme letters. Put me out of my misery please.

Hi Cymro.
49d. Defn ‘wavered’ made of 5 letters ‘sign’ + 3 letters a word for spearing grass (only found in crosswords). Then two letters added at the beginning for the grid entry.

Hi Cymro,

49d - 5 letter "sign" (of the zodiac) + 3 letter "spread grass" (I only know this word from barred puzzles like the Listener) - initial definition is "wavered" as in oscillated but not a word I knew - thematic pair are first 2 letters.

You only show 9 letters but the original answer is 8 and then it's 10, but presuming your just missing one at the end, your A, which should be the 2nd thematic letter is wrong but the ?I?B?R?T?? are all correct.

Sorry if I've explained that badly but I've been up all night:-)

Cymro, I've no longer got a copy of my scribbled notes - but I remember the 'sign' being astrologocal, and coming after the theme letters...