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I enjoyed the theme of this. I've got my 48 cells etc but I still have a snag at 33ac, where I'm missing the initial letter as I can't parse it. Some help would be appreciated.

usual abbrev fr first word
The answer usually comes before the last word (minus a letter)

This had me puzzled for a while because it's so simple I didn't see it. One word abbrev. for "tense" + 3 letter word for "hearing". The extra letter is in the final word.

Thanks kirky and will37. I missed the abbreviation, noted for the future.

I get the point about not getting things that are less complicated than you think. Our minds must be too highly trained!

(That's firmly tongue in cheek in my case if it's not obvious).

I don't see any way to get 48 cells using the 'reversed' character. It's straightforward to get 48 cells using the two whole entries, both of which are, in fact, literary characters.

All done, but can someone please help me parse 37a? I have the solution and the misprint, but just can’t make it work.

Do you mean 37d? There is no 37a

Sorry, yes - 37a.

Gaaah! Sorry, yes - 37d

Def is last word, of course. 1-letter abbreviation + 4-letters - abbreviation. Corrected misprint is synonym for go.