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OptO - yes the words should be in reverse alphabetical order. However you still won't be able to solve it unless you have the GWIT moment and have been lucky enough to put the first bit in the right place.

Daniel - do you mean last across clue or last down clue? Last across clue is not one of the 6, no.

I suggest that there's a single arc in the two smallest squares, since the radius of curvature is the same in both squares.

I'm guessing no arc in the second one, as it interferes with the GL. But I could be wrong. One of the many unfathomables in this puzzle.

I've abandoned this, having explored all the slack in the instructions that I'm aware of, and having read the whole thread.

Aside from the tenuousness of the solving path to the endgame, and the seemingly wilful withholding of key information by the setter (it seems from some comments above that the instructions were inadequate for any solver who didn't get lucky), I think that the clues (definitions AND wordplay) were pushed too far, the vocabulary was also generally obscure, and there were only six thematic entries in the 13 x 13 grid.

I'm thinking about puzzles where the filling of the grid is an integral part of the endgame - e,g, Sabre is brilliant at that. A good Listener crossword always feels like a, ahem, crossword. However, I endorse the editors' decision to publish it, it's (probably) all part of the fun, and they try not to interfere more than they have to, which is only right.

Looking forward to Friday.

Iratus - yes I think that is correct. At this point the approximation fails. The final arc is a semicircle that runs through 2 squares of dimension 1 so we indeed do have 6 new squares and 6 arcs - and I can add my new character in the last square rather than one after it.
I am pretty sure the markers will not be too picky about this

Many thanks Smithsax (78) and Smellyharry (81). I think I now have the solution. I can't say that this has been my favourite Listener, but that is only because the end game has been so difficult. I found the wording of the preamble very confusing at first and it was only after I had solved the puzzle that I was able to see that it is, in fact, perfectly fair. I can't help thinking that things should have been the other way round.

Smithsax

Thought about it a bit more, now pretty sure that's wrong. If you extend the last arc through the final cell you no longer have a piece of a GS. So it can't be required, IMV.

Well said esmerelda. One would expect to make decent progress after filling the original grid but that wasn't the case here. Dodgy abbreviations too.

I've only just got the grid filled!
Stuck on parsing 41A and 9D; could some kind person offer help? (Pretty sure I've got the right answers.)

Oldwolfie

41A - definition is first word. Wordplay is a 6-letter word for coach, but with one letter (derived using "finally") replacing another (a mediaeval roman numeral).

9D - definition is first 4 words. Word play is an anagram.

Both clues of course have an extra word that needs to be removed.