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Unclued - I thought it must be the usual serfs, composed of a two-letter word for 'not' and a word for a tax (with a redundant letter), but that gives me five letters, not four.

I'm well on with the solving, exasperated by the SE corner but with two sets of letters that don't match up: I have a surplus A and a surplus N, making one set of 23 and the other looking like 25 but still with gaps from unsolved clues. Unless someone can give a Really Big Hint about the gimmick I think I'm going to give up.

durban, there is no mistake in the last across clue. The definition is 'trainees' and it has no part in the wordplay which given by 'weeping about new'. The fact that the answer is close to an anagram of 'trainees' is either diabolical or unfortunate depending on the setters' intentions.

I do think there are multiple ways to do the SE corner that are justifiable:

a..b
.ab.
.cd.
c..d

.ab.
a..b
c..d
.cd.

or just big

AB
CD

I suspect the latter is what is expected but don't see how the others can be wrong.

saoralba - I think unclued has just given you a good tip for the problem you have in the SE corner using 4 large letters (I think you might have mistaken this as having something to do with the 'slaves' clue's answer length).

unclued - that's a 3rd version for the endgame, and it could well be the right one (I was working on the idea that the'representations' were of two of the three items that are written below the grid - with the definition for the third ruling out the 'spherical aberration' but, as is often the case, I think I've overcomplicated it!).

Saoralba, have you put four letters in the fifth cell across, fifth cell down? The four letter word placed in the single cell has a thematic significance.

Thanks for the help about ESNES. Yes it’s NE inside ESS(e).

unclued - not (c)ESS with NE inside?

buzzb - make that 4! I went for -

* A * B
A * B *
* C * D
C * D *

A 'compound' version of the one beginning with T.

You’re right drxx. It’s NE inside CESS losing the c.

I think the neatest way of resolving the SE corner is to do what I suggested. Use four big letters inside the 4 four by four cells in the bottom right corner. All the crossing words can be read normally.

Yes, I think the 4 big letters works very well unclued (I don't know how I missed it!).

I chose the "big letters" presentation for the symmetry - one representation (see preamble) has four letters in one cell, the other one letter in four cells.

I have the SE corner, involving 8 answers, which is very neat. I cannot see the other representation- presumably involving the 5th row and 5th column. It seems that 4 answers are squeezed in to the 5th row, and maybe 2 into the 5th column- but where are the 8 answers required for this part?

Durban, I like the idea of 4 letters in one square, the opposite of the SE corner, but again, it only uses 4 answers. Help!