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I'm nearly there with this. Need help to understand 26a. I have the shed I think but can't see the 'metal' and how the word changes. Twice I think!
Also why is the word 'don' in clue 15a?

Hi lumen. In 20 "don" needs the 4th of the 15 missing letters adding to it.
26 is a clue for which the initial answer is a non-word. Inside a 3-letter word for "meadow" insert a 4-letter word for a metal with the standard abbreviation for "old" omitted.

Thanks. I have it now. I messed up by relying on Chambers word wizard on that one. It doesn't give the final answer at 26a.
Or the answer at 1a. Or the original answer at 39a! All of which are in the book.
I still don't see how the establishment church gets reversed inside 20a. Adding the letter to 'don' doesn't imply reversal?

Check out the abbreviation EC in the BRB.

Lumen,
Look up EC in Chambers

Finally finished this one. I might have completed it sooner, if I had not spent a lot of time fixated with the name which appears in the top row of the grid.

Not sure which answer provides the Y in CLEAN YET. I can see one option where the first part of the wordplay gives a word with alternative spellings containing I or Y, and using Y matches the definition, hence using I would work. Feels unsatisfactory but is that it?

I think, gregwatsonuk, that you're looking at the correct clue. The Y is replaced by the 3rd of the letters suggested by the first three words of wordplay. The next three words suggest the remaining two letters. And the definition is the single last word.

Only started this today owing to the wall-to-wall rugger. A few gentle nudges on 22a1d, 27d would be helpful, but nothing so overt that will get anyone sent to the bunker.

Thanks in advance.

22a is P for pressure, followed by a 5-letter word for "with many risings", giving a familiar contraction of the name of a major US city.
1d - see Mullingar's post #84
27d is a square in the numerical sense. A truncated 4-letter word for "elegant" inside a 3-letter word for "consequence".