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2 letters missing in wordplay for 23d, planks (but no double letter ending, unless I've misunderstood).

Yay! Reconsrtuction complete and hidden message found. (I guessed, given the 14 letters and then looked for key letters)..
Done in a day *proud* (:o)

...it's difficult to backtrack now that the grid's been cut up and reassembled!

Planks, sorry if I gave misleading information - it was hard to keep all the strands, disparate pieces needed in this puzzle. I have more than one letter at the end...

Thanks malone and drxx, making mince pies and wrapping presents need doing, I think I'll see if putting this to one side clears my foggy brain, perhaps a festive sherry will help!

...now I see what you meant planks/malone - yes, two letters in a cell!

Thanks, drxx - I suddenly had this vision of 'double letters' meaning two LLs, say, and me making things harder for the solver!

...that's where I got confused, malone but it was my mistake.

Thanks ginge & drxx. I had RISEN in 15Ac. I thought "upthe pole" gave an anagram of SIREN. I now see that it is the definition, peculiarly, for SOUSED. I hope my fellow solvers on here can confirm my diagonally separated cells at
C10R3, C9R4, C5R5, C11R5, C6R6, C7R7, C11R8, C1R12, C7R12.

Turast, I have C9R5 and not C11R5, with an unclued letter at C11R5
ButI'm stuck and this may be why