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My way in was the same as Brendan's. There is only one possible arrangement for two of the 9s, which I solved late on and so was able to fit the answers I had got around them.

I'm always interested in the thematic reason for the jigsaw element in puzzles like this. Obviously it adds an extra level of difficulty, but that alone is discouraged by the editors in the guidance notes. This would still have been a marvellous feat of construction if the clues had been presented normally, but perhaps the positioning of the blank cells and/or the rows to be altered would have been too easy to spot?

Still plugging away at this, though I did get a late start. Looking for confirmation - is the answer for the clue beginning "Jambs" a proper name? A British performer perhaps (whom I'd never heard of), which would make the misprint in the first word.

'Yes' to the name (forename) and the misprint. Many younger solvers might be equally bemused...

…perhaps they’d .all the more bemused because this “quintessential Cockney” was born and lived the first half of his in South Africa. Funny old world!

Thanks, Malone.

Mathprof... glad I could help.

Jack Aubrey, thanks - I knew very little about the man... and didn't mind my level of ignorance!

You are welcome, Malone. Among my many family titles are “Official Explainer of the Bleedin’ Obvious” and “Gratuitous Provider of Spurious Information”. I don’t expect you are at all surprised….

Many thanks to Aragon. Great fun. I can’t complain about a slog because any “slogging” was down to two unforced errors. I persuaded myself to a wrong (but not wrong enough) answer to the first 9 which meshed nicely with another - but in the wrong location in the grid. Once I dug my way out of that rabbit hole it went smoothly enough but with sufficient challenge to keep me on my toes.

As to Cockie’s query @10, I chose the mixed case approach. But mostly because of my OCD tbh. (I’m sorry, I can never resist a sitter.)

I really enjoyed this puzzle and thought the endgame was a very clever construction but I'm still unable to parse "Gold on old sleeve...". The word I have is in Chambers as part of a two word phrase and working backwards I assume the misprint is in the first word of the clue but that still doesn't help. Any illumination greatly appreciated!

Maybe try the second word for the misprint?