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Finally all done. Thanks again to Mattrom for helping me out of the ditch and many thanks to Hawk for a great workout and a satisfying conclusion.

God this is hard work. NE corner has me completely baffled.

For 5d I have g_ic, but nothing fits. For 12d I have i_re__ and again I can't find anything to fit. Could someone confirm if these are right or wrong?

Ta

I don’t have it to hand, but they both sound wrong. If 5d involves revenge, it begins with G but the IC are wrong. If 12d is an old word for tear, it begins with a T and contains a hyphen

5D is discussed in post 36 (G is wrong, IC is OK)

In case you’re still wrestling with this SH, 5d - your g is wrong, try O. See also Mattrom’s posts 36 and 40. Paul

SH, see also posts 12&13 for 12d.

Thanks, sorted the NW corner now, had the wrong (but plausible) adjustment in 5a.

Have all the transferring letters now, the theme and two (possibly three) of the words to highlight. Just 13a and 38a to figure out, and the other words to highlight. The end may finally be in sight, thank god.

Sorry I misremembered 5d, so my suggestion was wrong. The new answer for 13a is an acronym, and for 38a the definition of the old answer is the last two words. Usually known as a ghost. Parses 1,2,3

Finally got there, although I'm not 100% convinced by my highlighting in the bottom row. Could be right though.

Loose ends for me are the wordplay for 13a and 26d.

SH,
Wordplay for 13a. is N ('aNd', without frills) in 'applied'
26d. is 'Rose', as found in a shower, minus A for 'adult'. Def. is the last 3 words.