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I was happy with the unchecked letter in row 7 until I came to this discussion. It seemed obvious to me to add the only letter that seemed to make a real word and I assumed that spelling was the accepted plural. I have now had a (very quick) look at several on line dictionaries and have not found any evidence to support its use in this form.
I still think my answer is correct though.

By analogy with teams who come second? ....

Exactly - and those teams are supported by Chambers.

Re 59 and 60. You can indeed draw 4 lines through the 9 cells without "sloping" the lines. Consider the title.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking_outside_the_box

I think I have finished but I am worried by the wording of preamble when it says "plus two extra letters to respect your bars" . I took this to mean that the line covered 36 cells with no changes to bars or letters in the grid but is there a different interpretation?

I think we are aware of the way of covering the 9 cells mprs. Two of those lines are most definitely sloping - they are neither horizontal nor vertical.

Yes, exactly. Some lines are neither horizontal nor vertical, and this must necessarily be the case in order to "spell" the word (i.e. from first to last letter).

Actually now that I look at it again there are also two options for one of the lines if repeated use of letters is permitted. Preamble implies that this is not permitted but perhaps could have been more explicit.

I'm still scratching my head about the paintbrush bit. I think I have it but it's not how I initially interpreted the word 'rest' in the preamble. Does that make sense?

So am I Scubaj. The preamble says "three of your words with one line" - there are only 2 possibilities for this and I'm beggared if I know which one it is as I can't see any definitions for the three unclued entries. My gut instinct is that is is......................

I have not until now looked at the Forum. I seem to be able to interpret all the instructions, but I have a couple of issues.

The first concerns the third instruction (She drew again ...). The result is not a straight line since it has two kinks in it at points where you duck under the table. I can't see a way of avoiding this if you have to include 36 cells. However, the Listener has often taken a cavalier approach as to what constitutes a line. I think what we have here is three line segments.

The second concerns the new words created by the paintbrush exercise. I get nine new (unclued) words, two of which are backwards. I think I can find seven definitions if I look in the right place - which might be an interpretation of the wife's last comment. However, it does not quite hang together as neatly as it might.