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Thanks all, apologies for my dimness and my typos. I must admit that I still don't understand how 2d's extra word defines 15a, given the thematic material I've found for 15a. I suppose that comprehension isn't strictly necessary to have a complete grid!

Chrisremo, maybe think of an apple for 15 A and the extra word in 2 Down?

Aha, I see—I had the wrong extra word identified in 2d! I didn't even think to question that, because the 2d wordplay works perfectly well with the alternative removal—in my working, anyway.

Chrisremo, thanks. I knew it didn't matter for completing the puzzle, but it's always good to get little niggles cleared up.

Chrisremo -
glad to see you're hacking it. :-)

I’m puttering along a little late as usual. What an ingenious (and timely) grid! All done and happy I think, but I’m struggling with the parsing of 34 (fruit stone man embedded in concrete after bomb (7, tw)) and 23 (defeats bishop upsetting the start of stalemate (6)) if anyone can please supply a nudge to put my mind at rest…

Hi mooncow,

In 34ac, “man” is an extra word. The definition is “fruit”. The first word in the answer has 3 letters and is a word that can mean “bomb”. The second word is a well-known fruit that can also mean “stone embedded in concrete”.

23dn is thematic. The definition is “defeats (as a plural noun), and the wordplay leads to the standard abbreviation for “bishop”, a six-letter word that can mean “upsetting”, and the first letter of “stalemate”. You have to remove a two-letter thematic item to obtain the entry, which is defined by the extra word in 28ac.

I hope this helps.

Brilliantly clear, thanks wintonian. That synonym for ‘upsetting’ often eludes me. And as for 34a, I spent ages trying to figure how the second word came from stone in concrete, but never thought to just look it up! Moral of the story: ALWAYS look the words up in BRB, even (especially?) the ones you think you know! Many thanks again: mind at rest now, for the crossword if not for the situation.