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Well, I'm stuck and just using this forum as a last resort on Sunday having failed to complete in Saturday. So, hoping that some of the helpful contributors are still around.

Only 27A eludes me completely although I have a guess based on 'type' being the definition, but if it is then I have no idea of how to parse the rest of it so maybe it's not 'type'.

11A - Thanks to a hint I found here, I filled it in but please do tell me what type of 'hands' are referred to as I can't think of any that make sense - unless one is supposed to know the lyrics to the song mentioned earlier here?

21D seems obvious but I cannot parse it, even using another word for 'damp'.

A pretty tough one this week, I agree 14A: I don't know any football managers but there aren't that many things you season with that fit so I'd be surprised if I find that my assumption is wrong.

27 type is correct as the defn. You need to read the middle two letters as a conjunction between the outside letters

21 damp occasionally refers to taking alternate letters

Thanks jono. After a bit of musing I guess that 'end' refers to each end and not what we normally think of as the end.

As for 21D I did think of alternate letters but cannot make it fit what I think is the answer - from 'Fan' (one who approves of) as the definition and that 'ventilator' refers to creating an opening in the preceding word to give the first two letters. It's beginning to make me think that I've somehow got 24A wrong but I doubt it - C. Dickens refers to it when contrasting happiness and misery, I hope.

Hmm.

OK, I've parsed 21D using a definition of ventilater to give me most of the letters but I don't like the use of the word 'tackle' as the instruction. Seems a bit odd.

Still hoping that someone can explain the use of 'hands' in 11A.

Hands is what the first word of 11A are when there are a few of them.

As in definition 21 of "hand" in Chambers online...

Def 21. Well, well, don't you learn something every day! Perhaps I should do more crosswords.

Thank you, paradigmshifter.

That usage of "hand", and the perplexing murder of crows, are occasionally dug out of the setter's bag of tricks, so to speak. 🤣
Both have snared me more than once.