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Mooncow
Keep persevering. I eventually decided to buy the dictionary (having won a WH Smith voucher in another Times crossword), only to find I won a Listener Crossword prize a few weeks later! Since then I have won again and have now amassed some of the alternative prizes as well. The bookcase is groaning under the weight! Good luck.

Right, I'm quite sure I've borked the SE corner entirely in my mind.

39a "Not for Macbeth to wield a sickening hate" (6) I believe to be a common word for "sickening hate", which clashes with what I have for:

26d "Ed's settled in home counties in a block" (6) which I believe to be calm and collected

I think 39 has a U, which 26 doesn't, and can't see what the alternatives are to either.

A poke for 29d would be helpful as well, think I know where it's going but can't settle on anything.

I've got five subject names (BBNNO) and from earlier in the thread, think I'm after a 5 letter 'D', but can't seem to fix the SE corner at all.

Yes, for 39a - the entry should start A and end S).
26 Is a typically odd (Spenser) looking word for 'balanced'
39 Has U, as does 29
29 29 Take 'to be' away from 'trouble-free' + anag.

...you need 6 letters for D.

Well I feel dumb now, as that's the 6 I saw a while ago and thought it couldn't be... I was stuck with 26d being the version of the word with an 'O' instead, proved quite hard to find things to fit around it as a result.

All sorted now though, thank you very much!

Still got 7 down clues to solve but does 39ac end with S (Drxx@73)? I haven’t got one in my 30dn.
Thanks.

You are correct. The jumbled entry starts with A and ends in N. Unjumbled it is a Scottish word for no with a three letter word for wield and an A meaning sickening hate.

Thanks, that’s what I had, and a bit of reverse engineering from the quotation has helped solve my remaining clues.

smithsax is correct - think for the jumble drxx mistakenly included the letter beyond the bar....

You're right crates - sorry for the confusion (must get my eyes checked!).