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Thanks to Vismut for a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle with good clues and a good endgame - what more can you ask for:-)

Agreed. Very enjoyable and quite a 😄 moment when the penny dropped looking at the revealed words. Excellent puzzle and a pleasant relief from the grind that is this week's Listener.

(The up and down nature of the revealed words ie one set reads upwards etc....was doubly clever in retrospect).

Indeed Granama1. I don’t normally study the grid at all before the endgame, but even so I was surprised how much thematic information was hidden in plain sight. Very elegantly done, so thanks Vismut

Struggling with last few.
27a, that's a lot of seemingly random words for a four letter answer. I don't think removing one will help the surface reading!
15a choice of two countries, can't see which.
35d. Probably extra word again?

Lumen, a visit to Chambers will determine 15 - check out both of the last letters.

35 D. Yes, an extra word.

PS Giving the clues is good for those who don't see, do the puzzle.

Hi Lumen,

27a - Single letter "caught" + 4 letter "catch" minus its first letter/"topped" - definition is "onion net per records" -

15a - If you look up the 2 options for the last letter in Chambers you'll see one of them is a "drug to America"

35d - 4 letter "fast" minus "top of tickly" + single letter "zip" - definition is "cloth"

27a and 35d contain extra word

Thanks both!
I'm off to see if Chambers justifies definition in 27!

I have a full grid and am fairly sure about 10 of thec12 extra words. When I write down, the single letters to the left and right of those words, they are gobbledygook, when read 'up' and 'down' in clue order, as instructed. Clearlly have musunderstood something, e.g 1a extra word is 'hairy' , letter tio the left is 'y' and to the right is 'p'. Any hints appreciated.

Slugabed, I don’t think you’ve misunderstood. More likely you have some wrong extra words. Hairy in 1a is an anagrind for pirate. The first one is in 13a

HI Slugabed,

Your example is the correct method. The letters to the left have to be read in reverse order so, for example, E U L C would be CLUE.