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Gitto,

It's still early, so this is a bit oblique.

26a wordplay gives 2 letters + 2 letters.

12d wordplay gives 3 + 2, reversed.

Thanks RHSL, I see 12d now but 26a still eludes me. Plodding along with the end game now, replaced the blocks with the relevant letters, just the instruction, the shapes and the highlighting to go!!!!

I hope that the checker shows some leniency towards the bigger shapes that need to be drawn, as my final depiction could involve +/- up to four cells.

Well, after a lot of trial and error I've managed to draw the three connected shapes using exactly 50 cells, although whether they are the intended 50 cells only Shackleton (and presumably Andy Mullins) can say.

Re: Kelvin: he was Belfast-born, Scottish-adopted.

See BRB definition 16 (!) of the equivalent of the last two letters.

Good old Listener; excellent level of puzzle, btw.

Very clever puzzle - thanks to Shackleton.
Took a while for the penny to drop!

I have a full grid, but cannot parse 5 and 8 down or 42 across. The down entries are fully checked by crossing entries, so I am sure they are right. I am equally certain that my entry for 42 across has to be right as it surely cannot be anything else. For the sake of completeness, it would be nice to know how these clues work before moving on to the end game. Hints appreciated.

5d: Def is last 2 words after correction. Bob = 3-letter word

8d: 2-letter archaic def for cause; you undoubtedly have the def of the entry

42a: US casualty is the emergency room. with=AND Def=1st 3 words but I never heard of it...

Thanks Buzzb. All is now clear.

I am pretty much done but have two queries.
Are the contents of the cells making up two of the shapes irrelevant...unlike those making the third?

And, I do not see the relevance of the 'hideous truth' but suspect it to be the lower right cell of the 2x2?

Thanks