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I'm still mulling over 16d. The person who comes to mind is Australian but I can't see how to work his name into the answer. I also hadn't considered the alternative final letter for 27a but I'm sticking with a vowel. I'm sure it'll be a 'doh!' moment when I finally see it.

Me too, I have now solved it by basically googling a bunch of likely phrases that fit. I still can't parse it though.

I fixated on the Australian for far too long as well, Simon.
Stick with what you have for 27a.
For 16, all I can say, without (I hope) trespassing into spoiler territory is that the clue embraces a traditional song and a proverbial phrase.

I must confess that although I've got 16d, I don't see where "dominant partner" fits. The clue works perfectly well without those words.

I found 16d in Chambers, but I've not heard that usage before. It brings a whole new meaning to something I shan't mention, for fear of spoiling.
Last night, many of the parsings eluded me. This morning, it's all a bit clearer, but I'm still 'Hmm...' about some of them.

Chris, dominant partner is the second definition. It’s in Chambers, though you have to look under the entry for the second word.

Thanks jono. Never heard that expression! As I said, the clue doesn't need it.

Hi Chris.
Like Juan I had no idea about the dominant partner bit, and only discovered it by reverse engineering from the solution. I’m not sure how to describe the clue as a whole - probably double definition is the closest fit, as jono suggests, but it doesn’t quite do justice to the surface of what I now have as a competitor for COD.

juandango
Your last night/this morning experience exactly matches mine, though the more I look at my ‘hmmmm’ clues the more convinced I am that they are not only sound but also rather good.

Doh!

Finally got 16d. I thought I'd already put the crossing letters pattern into Chambers but got zero matches. It is, of course, very familiar to me from my youth although I wasn't aware of its other meaning per Chambers. Thanks to everyone who pitched in trying to help me.