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SuzannahJ, once I realise where the first blank must be (see earlier posts by other posters for a good guide) the other two were easy to position.
I have finally stumbled across the line, hurrah!
I found the Scrabble board v useful in getting the top half sorted. I wasn't helped by having 'Cardinal' as my papal appointment (it's also a place in Virginia). Doh.

Susannahj, 180 symmetry tells you that the middle block must be in the middle row, centrally located. And if you have the two middle across clues, “Shell of …” and “Papal appointment”, they must be at either end of that row. Unless the whole row is empty (which it isn’t). That should tell you the size of all the blocks.

To recap, across clues 1 and 20, 2 and 19, 3 and 18 …. must each be the same length

Thanks Quisling! How you work this stuff out is beyond me! As soon as a crossword strays from being about words, I'm always in trouble.

And I do have those two answers, so maybe I'll be bold and fill them in. And the good news is that they fit with my first two tentative entries.

Having stumbled over the line I'm now doubting my final thematic entry. I thought I'd cracked it but I'm struggling to add the single vertical line to make sensible words. I thought the entry must be very famous and quite 'rocky' but it doesn't work with the single line and, possibly, with one of the longer down answers.

I've tried all the right number of letter options in my Bradford's I think.

I know there's a ? over a dodgy plural involved.

So near, yet so far. 🤨

Which one are you unsure of? Top, middle or bottom? And which letter of it doesn’t work?

Hi Quisling, it's the bottom one that I put the 'rocky' place in. 4 columns in from the right I have what looks like a place in France which would be 8 letters ending in 's' where I have 'r'.

S is correct for the eighth letter of that down. It should be the fifth letter of the thematic entry,

Have you tried the “rocky” place in the upper row, bearing in mind the final eight-letter answer is, improbably, two words?

Thanks again Quisling. I thought I'd tried swapping the top and bottom (the middle works fine) but I will give it all a hard stare again with the new info. 👍