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Thanks Buzzy for the tip. We have made good progress !

A very interesting puzzle! Re the boys' names, I see two names that
can fit on one of the two - how do I know which one? Also, please can someone give me an indicator as to the "potato" connection - can't see either of these.

Its OK about the "potato" connection - I see there's an anagram involved here. The "names" remain a mystery at present.

Rocketman, note that 14 is referenced twice in the preamble

Gotcha! Thanks, Jono. Just tying up the loose ends now. Do you happen to know if the 6-lettered present for a girl has "U" or "O" as one of its letters? Also, is the "carol" reference down to a specific person?

O and no, not a person

Again, many thanks.

I've nearly completed this, but I am struggling with the last two:

34A: A girl's present. I have P?PP?T

49D: Sausages. I have A?D?U?L?E

For 49,if you plug what you have into any word-finder, only one thing comes up,e.g. www.onelook.com

for 34, either of two possibilities seems reasonable to me; jono below suggests the second letter should be an O, although chambers gives this as obsolete (unless he means a lathe-head is a girl's present). But in 2022 it seems rather retrograde to suggest that boys cannot play with anything that a girl might play with (just call it an "action figure" I guess.)

Many thanks buddy. I didn't know about onelook. I have gone with O being the second letter in 34A as Collins gives that as an obsolete word for 56A