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All done, lovely puzzle! Although a jigsaw, putting the elements together was quite pleasing

Can’t parse 36 or 32.

36: I’m guessing the first three words are the first four letters plus extra, but don’t see it

32: seems to have the extra phrase, which I don’t quite get, because “central” is needed for AS, but then T is clued to precede AS and it comes afterwards in the answer

Adeano

36 - first two words are extra. 3 letter wreck then usual that is crossing north. Defn is sea.

32 - yes, third and fourth are extra. 1 2 and 5 give a single 3 letter abbreviation. The central Alaska bit is a red herring.

Ha, brilliant, thanks! Great red herring.

I meant reel 36 - the one about Villa. Did I get the clue number wrong? Don’t have the puzzle in front of me now

Sorry, I did 38, couldn't read the clue numbers after id crossed them out.

Reel 36 - yes, this was the last one I parsed. First four letters are the first four of a 6 letter 'villa' with the 5th being the central extra letter. All but villa means knock the last letter off a 6 letter word for a villa.

Ah, that makes sense. Just didn’t quite see “all but” in that way, but looking at the definition it is clear! Thanks, appreciate the help

I know the endgame is generally not hinted at but I’m struggling with it. Could anyone say if the fragments written below the grid are unambiguous? Seems to me like there could be any number of options

Completely unambiguous. You’ll know when you have the answer. It’s thematic

Grunos, it might help to remember that "the extra phrases (in order) are partial hints to group them."

Got it!

Brilliant crossword that. I agree with whoever said it was puzzle of the year so far

Sorry to bump this, I'm very behind with my listener crosswords and trying to catch up...

Anyway, this one I've finished, but was put wrong for quite a while by 16 down:

Steel bar Head of Engineering once put up to support giant water coolers (7)

...what is the word 'once' doing here? I assumed it was superfluous and had it, along with 'put', as one of my extra two-word phrases.