So much for my resolution to comment less on puzzles...I can't help but agree with you, S_Pugh. Unless one has the necessary software to examine the string of letters in each PD clue in order to find the likely breaks, the solving of many PD clues just becomes a boring slog. It really does lend itself better to a machine. And it strikes me that PD clues aren't really very clever generally, since the excluded word is not required to have any relation to the rest of the clue other than to provide another surface reading.
I still have some PD queries on 29, 30 and 33. If some kind soul would indicate where the breaks in the clues occur, that would be very helpful.
For the misprint clues. 14 surely is intended to yield correct letter A, but I'm none the wiser as to the parsing. I thought that the answer was some kind of knitting. For 38 my answer is a synonym for ogles, which is a little different from grins ? But maybe I've misunderstood the clues...