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And you've made an observation about a particular clue that I avoided mentioning - perhaps it's your post that is giving too much away here.

Dylan - 21A - there is, it seems, a Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours; its members have a two letter abbreviation.

Then a shortened five-letter noun for try (as in have a…) to give an obscurish word for zigzag braid.

Many thanks to ddxx and hotelwhisky7.

Perhaps a final question- how many clashes are there?

A question please for those who get the crossword on a Friday: I am going on holiday shortly and it is unlikely that I will be able to obtain a paper copy of The Times. Does the Times Crossword Club still exist? Should I take out a Times subscription, digital version? Do I then just download and print the crossword? TIA.

Jollity, I would suggest a digital subscription is the way forward. They currently offer a one month free trial, or £1 a month for three months, and you can always cancel thereafter. You can indeed download it and print it from 4pm on Friday

I took out the 3 months for £1 and recently (just before the deal ended) phoned them to cancel (it would have gone up to £26 per month). When asked why I was cancelling I told them I was only interested in the puzzles and was immediately offered another 3 months at £2.60 per month. They also hinted that if I call again when this deal ends another such deal might be available :-)

Good stuff, jono. Each to their own, of course, but if you have a smartphone, the Chambers app will come in very handy, as will Bradford's on Kindle. No need then to pack reference books

The 'application' to be added to two clues is a prime case of GWIT (Guess What I'm Thinking). We don't know the length of each, nor whether it's a prefix or suffix. I got one by adding * to the answer given by wordplay in TEA and scanning the results. Fortunately one jumped out.
It's a totally pointless gimmick.

I agree with drxx's comment at #3. I really dislike these puzzle based on specialist themes of this sort. They often involve the layman in some searching for exemplars to ensure his/her solution conforms thematically.

Add me to the grumpy buggers. I found this a tedious slog and only hit on the theme by chance. Those acronyms are truly a GWIT device. No idea how to satisfy the joining up bit and no intention of trying.

I sympathise with those for whom this wasn’t their cup of tea. I’m like that with Biblical-themed puzzles. This I felt was really quite generous with the checking; a raft of answers could be fully completed without reference to their clue. On the other hand, I felt that the instructions were clear*, and the limited number of clashes led to a swift arrival at the name in question. Not my favourite, but a pleasant diversion.
* with the exception of the two add-ons. One was reasonably clear, but I still haven’t sussed how the wordplay leads to the result for the second one.