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Newbie here!

Finished except for 20dn -- which is driving me nuts! Have a three-letter abbreviation going spare but can't seem to fit it in

Definition is adopted.

Caretaker without "wheels" and one of the 19 (hopefully your spare) added

welcome lizw - the insert in 20 is a month. Me, I'm stuck on 39 ...

I have my own problems in the two 21s

The very best place on reflection (4)

His column is about painting (6) I have ??a?p?

22 down

From the heart expats assist swedes dance (9)

I have ??s?n?i?d

Although not convinced I have 34across right

Another word for blockaded and one of the 38 in the middle.

I was hung up on another dragon slayer until I found out about this one

Ah! Many thanks. Got the omitting 'wheels' part but made the classic error of misreading the enumeration (4,5 instead of 5,4). Phew.

Enjoyed this much more than the usual Maskarade.

I looked that up, and cpulnt connect it to bullock, so I passed it over.

Thanks.

Does anyone else find that having so many themed clues trivialises the solving process, as once one has got the theme, one suspects there may be one of them in any answer, this almost hands the answer to you.

21ac def is 'the very best'. Deceptively simple.

21dn the 'p' is wrong. First part is a reversal of word meaning 'painting' def: 'his column'

22dn the 'n' is wrong. This is one of the theme clues, haven't fully parsed it, but it's a pretty obscure word

34ac parses as ?+?+?. Not a theme clue. The last three letters are a familiar worker

Hope this helps!

See exlibris @29!