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That was a beast. I solved the upper half with a good amount of difficulty, but the lower half was a grind. However, I would never have finished this without googling what I thought were the possible entries for ID and 20D.

Gitto,
It was easy to figure out 1d and 20d.
Googling those two words gave the theme away. I have the names, the motto etc.
All I have to do is solve the clues now, which I am finding very tough.

I found the lower half considerably more difficult than the upper. Knowing the missing pairs in the upper half helps to confirm the definition from the part indicator from the cryptic part, but the reverse logic required for the lower half gave me a headache. Solving cryptic indicators to non-words was, I found, extremely difficult.

I'm just starting the lower half and have noticed that 22A looks odd ( I only have the crossers).

Are all the answers that have the pairs added result in non-words then?

Yes Nelson, the lower half are all non-words, bar those with the letter missing in the clue and the one thermatic clue...as gitto says, what a grind to finish. Tips: get the two unclued entries, the third will follow and do the top half first!

The two DOWN unclued entries first, I meant to say, the unclued across entry will follow

Many thanks muraria.

I have the thematics and have completed the upper half, and am now working on the lower half.

But in the upper half, just a bit puzzled by 15D. I have an answer that meets the definition 'social group' but the clue seems to indicate the answer should end with T. Is there something going on in the puzzle that I've not noticed yet?

No problem, nelson

I have a U at the end of 15D. This one has an extra letter.

I originally had a U at the end, but couldn't find reference anywhere to the word that gave me.

Don't want to spoil anything for anyone at this stage so don't want to say too much more about my parsing.

But, is the U essential for 22 across?

Yes, it is part of the 3-letter definition