I agree with you gitto. I have tentatively entered a few answers in the NW and SE corners. I have put the 10 letter down clue in the NE corner which makes no sense in terms of symmetry. Can anyone tell me if I'm along the right lines. As for the larger than life characters - I don't have a scooby.
williamseal - the third clue is an anagram of buys with a single letter representing both one and hotel - plus the missing letter. the def is a branch (literally)