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Finally got the midlands thing but it means I seem to have bumped off all but all but one of the population I thought I had. I guess there must be more lurking somewhere in the grid? I'll look tomorrow.

You're right so far - look for the others.

All done and dusted but i cannot parse 40 across. For peace of mind could someone help?

Monkjunk

As luck would have it I’ve just cracked this one, although I still have a long way to go. The instrument is a rebec, reversed inside one German (one letter each), and the def is the last two words, with the misprint which I’m sure you must have.

Old instrument (5 letters) reversed in I (one) + G(erman) - misprint in last letter.

...sorry - last word, not letter.

Rad and drxx.....i thank thee heartily!! I can now go to sleep.
I enjoyed this puzzle tremendously despite some bizarre surfaces.

So did I monkjunk.

Ah, now I get it! Thanks for your help drxx.

All finished. A very satisfying and enjoyable puzzle with a number of PDM's.
However... I can't parse 38d even though I think I've identified the definition.
Can somebody put me out of my misery please.