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This has been a monumental struggle for me, but I'm failing at the very last hurdle. I have the two quotes and completed half of the final step - but I cannot see from whence he came.

He’s vertical, Gitto

Thanks Quisling, found him now. I've also spotted 5 of the other members of the octet, but I don't need to worry about the other two yet, I'll have another look later, This has been one of the hardest solves of this year IMO.

It was tough. I took too long to work out where the two quotes joined together, because 5d stumped me. I’ll take the rap for that. The group are all adjacent, and the last letter of the vertical one does double duty

Yes, this was a tough one. Some of the clue surfaces and references were a touch obscure....F1 driver, rapper (albeit one of the better known ones), theologian...with quite a bit of reverse engineering.
I presume 1ac was deliberately thematic?
The endgame was a little disappointing for me but overall, really enjoyed it. Thanks to Nimrod...

Agreed, Muraria, especially wrt to the F1 driver. I too thought 1a must be thematic, though the "not half" in the clue confused me for a while, as I saw it as an anagram of "(w)hat as bad". I suppose the fodder must be be "(w)hat's a(s) bad", where w is extra and the s is dropped to indicate not half "a(s)".

Didn't guess this one.

An absolute bugger - easily four hours. I have seven baddies and a victim highlighted but bemused by the final leap. I need a break!

Oh, and I'm stuck on 53 across. I have **ED*NE It may be needing spaces and the first E may be superfluous. May I have a shove? No point in giving the full clue since only someone who has sorted it could help!! Not a clue whence the Y comes.

sh,
This is one with spaces....the entry is the last four letters.

Sorry, bc!