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Gitto:

1d — the definition is four words and the omitted letter is a consonant
20a — lose something from a word defined by profits (I wasn’t aware of this definition but it’s def #6 in my copy of chambers)
18a — two 2-letter abbreviations with a vowel omitted
35d — take a letter away from an obscure word for ‘ball’ (which is archaic as a noun but not as a verb, apparently)
36a — three word definition, the synonym for shops is the obvious one
31d — this is the only one I haven’t parsed either!

Thanks Bobsleigh, I have now identified the place and the literary figure and parsed 1d. Only two steps to go now.

Bobsleigh, 31d is an engraving term, lacking a single letter denoting one without income.

I can't see how the key is applied.

For a letter unclued by wordplay, the key tells what bit of the edge of its cell to place a dot, depending on what that unclued letter is. So an unclued A would have the dot in the middle of the top edge etc.

but why? because of its pointed end?

No - because A is next to the dot at the top middle of the cell in the key

Many thanks Jordan, all done now

Could somebody please help me to relieve my misery. I still cannot parse 20a although I think that its omitted letter HAS to be its second one. Additionally, my picture looks a little odd as I cannot fathom what the group 4 and 6 lines are supposed to represent nor why the group 5 line fails to meet them at the same level. The only good thing about my group 5 line is that it appears to be perfectly matched with my group 1 lines. If groups 4 and 6 bottom lines were half a cell higher I wouldn't be confused nor miserable at all.

Slightly less confused now - I had the dot in 30a in the wrong position within the cell! I had it on the LHS!!