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Thanks Peter M and loge. That is somewhat tortured.

Very strong clues overall though and a great puzzle.

peterm #99; loge #100 - great minds think alike!
An extraordinarily foxy insight into a setting twist that wasn't even essential to the solve!
I'm in awe.

Brain still totally blank on 24d and 39a - the presumed necessary conributions to the otherwise complete Instruction don't seem to help in either case.

Hi, I've finally got round to registering.

Used to post on the Answer Bank thread but found it a bit too snooty and puritanical. I was struggling to get the second player for this one until I browsed here and looked at the possible letters for the unclued entry again.

It was hard to shake off the red herring which gave the first name of a possibly relevant second player and a start to their second name but then petered out.

Am I alone in finding a mistake in the instructions? The first unchecked letter in the clue for 1D leads to an unhelpful letter, but the second unchecked letter gives the one I want.

Scrub that - I see now why I couldn't quite fit the clue together. A slightly different word was required.

I'm with you on 24D, beyond a definition.

39A is easy when you see it!

24d: look at the last letters of words 2 - 6.

Thanks peterm - so obvious when you realise that the last term isn't bust, and the straight flush isn't crunchy.

I was misled by trying to cross the eponymous flower (he just keeps rolling...)

There seem to be several posts saying that we need to pay special attention to the first word in the instructions ("leave") and that it is there for a purpose. Does this word have some sense in the UK that it doesn't have for me in the US?

Like many others. I'm confused by the words "leave" and "initially" and which word I'm supposed to put in. Or do I put in both.

Being in the US, I've never heard of the second player or the second title, but that's what Wikipedia is for. The connection with the first title is interesting, but I've no idea what that has to do with anything.

The fifth letter of the answer is the correct index into the clue.

Leave can be interpreted in two different ways.
Either “do not change” or “put into the required state before moving on”.
The first can apply to the first pass of the instruction and the latter to the second.
It seemed to cause some confusion but in fact is quite logical.