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Well what a great puzzle. A worthy follower to the great Araucaria holiday specials. Does anyone remember the Alfred Lord Tennyson alphabetical?

Thank you Feebee and apologies for the belated reply.

Like Janeiro I have the answer to 48d, simply because there was only one letter to find, which I could work out from the theme. However I do not understand the parsing of the 4-letter word. Any help?

62 ... not half...ceremony...lose half of it..

Thanks xwordfan, that makes sense of the definition but I don't understand how we get ''ceremony"- being dim, I'm sure. And while we're at it, struggling to parse 22a, 47a and 52a. With 47a I understand ( I think) that we have to subtract 3 letters from a bigger word meaning, undecided, but I don't understand what those three words have to do with 'study'.

Hi Grum,
48 ceremony = ritual in the clue
22 the reference is to Samuel Barber and his famous work. The answer parses 2 letters (present) + 4 letters (commission)
47 those three letters are a word for study, though the usage is archaic. It crops up in crosswords quite often so worth remembering
52 parses 1 letter from the clue + 4 letters for the road charge

Hi Grum,

48 - "ritual" = 'ceremony' then you follow the instruction in 62d leaving you with a word meaning "wrap up a body in cloth"

22a - 2 letter acronym for "present" (time) + a word meaning "commission" (on currency trades)

47a - you start with a 12 letter word meaning "undecided" and remove a 3 letter "study" (it's an old Edmund Spenser word meaning 'to know, learn or study' leaving you with "comprehensive"

52a - I can't see a 52a?

Apologies Grum I see it now ...

52a - A from the clue + 4 letter "road charge" gives you an "island"

Thanks so much, Jono and Brendan. I got confused with what was the definition for 48d, and I didn't know the 4-letter word. Thanks for info regarding 47a- one to remember. For 22a, - yup, not heard of the one part, and would never have guessed the other from ' present'...but of course now makes perfect sense. As for 52 a, actually I meant 53a, and the P has now D'd. (Actually I think it must have done when I first wrote it in, but then I just forgot!). Enjoyed the crossword and always find this forum helpful and informative, even when I don't contribute.

Apologies if I missed this in early posts on this thread. For 14d and 51d, are there two possible thematic pairs that could fill these? I think I haven't used those pairs in any other answers...
14d. First two letters as thematic pair
51d. Middle two as thematic pair