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Thanks Meursault - there's me not practicing what I preach and not reading the full BRB entry for jelly! I now happily have a full house of cold solved answers, so I think it's time to get 'jellied' and revisit tomorrow morning. Other sedatives are available .....

Meursault - thanks for pointing me to Onelook. I too now have theme and alias.

Phew! Finished! Once I figured out the 16-letter 'nature of the match' it fell into place quickly

Oh dear! If GELID is right for 12, then it has no common letters with what I have for 17. Please advise

GELID is 100% correct. 17a is one of the hardest clues. Def is ISLAMIST.
Book = a 3-letter abbreviation. Soldiers = 2-letter acronym commonly used in cryptics.

Rad, are you sure a wiggle can end in a numbered cell? Surely, after its initial letter, all letters have to be in edge-adjacent cells

A wiggle cannot use a numbered cell after the start. To do so it would use three cells of the octagon or square.

I thought 12 very unfair. The punctuation and word order lead to JELLIED not GELID. Poor.

There is too much cold solving in the first stage of this one for it to feel like a crossword yet; however, I think I only need to get two more (assuming I am right in thinking 8 is a an &lit). Any hints for 16 and 23?

Please explain why a wiggle cannot finish in a numbered cell and satisfy the preamble. I concede that it cannot have a numbered cell part way through, but it can clearly end in one. Rad #23 is quite correct

Dylan, I think 17 is Talib, though it's by no means obvious even with the help on here. I've never referred to a book as a lib, nor known anyone else do so...which gives you an L in common with 12.

I preferred Barmy...

You're right to stress that the wiggles must be (after the start) in edge-adjacent cells