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And so the other two become obvious. Got three quarters before referring to forum. Difficult but not loose in definitions.

Rarely have even the hints meant less to me, let alone the actual answer posted earlier!

What can I say. Enigmatist was an enigma to me. After an hour with a blank crossword, like Snow White I started to look up a few answers on Dan Word, then most of them. Then I tried to parse them, but in most cases couldn't. Some words I'd never heard of and several had an extra letter I couldn't parse, e.g. 18ac and 24ac. I'd never have got 2d or 13ac or 6d or 14d or 19ac. I did get 4d, but couldn't parse it - still can't despite an explanation above. There are a couple I should have got, but by then had lost confidence.

So, much too hard for me. I wish I'd given up earlier and did something more productive with my afternoon. The weather here in Exeter has been lovely and at least I got my washing dry outside!

Ah, the light of dawn helped me complete the puzzle with 2a. British GK indeed, but I’ve read Harry’s book so it finally hit me.

Rog @73 😱

Regarding the final 3 letters, I see 'boi' being used more and more as an alternative spelling to 'boy' in music titles and lyrics lately.

Ren's Sick Boi springs to mind but I'm sure there are many more.

Exactly, Brendan! Can it be pure chance? Especially with the first three letters along the bottom. I doubt it, but at the same time I’m quite surprised.

Wow, that was hard going. With some tips from here I got through it - all bar one, but quite a gruelling exercise.
12a - I guess it's a DD in the last three words but what's 'knock here' about?
I can't parse 19a: I have the uncassocked choirboy but don't see where/how the depressed clergyman fits.
Other than those, it's amazing how what look like completely impenetrable clues actually make sense after you've got them!

Hi JVector,

12a - "Knock" refers to a place.

19a - The answer is a person with that name who, I think, had a newspaper column and was known for being grumpy.

Okay, after further Googling, he was an Anglican priest who also had a column in the Evening Standard and was nicknamed "The Gloomy Dean".

Thank you Brendan for 12a explanation - I had no idea about that. For a while I thought it might be a synonym of 'craic'.
19a - a rather arcane bit of GK - the gent died at the age of 93 the year after I was born. Had a reputation as "the gloomy dean" according to Wikipedia. Prolfic writer with some "interesting" views!