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2nd (5 letter) 'nonsense' is a bit crude.
Pulp/romance 'literature' for the 'ripped' kind of clothing (and placed low down in the grid, this down answer will help with some of the longer acrosses).

Thanks, buzybee and drxx. I have the B word now, but I am now stumped over the non-opera. I'll keep at it! Thanks.

Pendragon
In order to make a start on fitting words in, look for two solutions that begin with one of the least common letters of the alphabet.

Enjoyed this one. Happy to have it completed before bed time. Must have spent half an hour figuring out how 27 contributed to the instruction, but it was getting late! Two words in the canoeists clue I might have avoided, though I see the appeal.
Thanks to Pangakupu and look forward to the blog, Prospero.

many thanks to you, jono - I have credited you in the blog. It's remarkable that after almost 250 editions the Grauniad hasn't managed to make the Genius interactive ...

Stupidly, I've persisted with this. I had the "nonsense .." one wrong, as I had the second word first (and I had 'soap' for the first word!). But, having entered all the words I think successfully, I have a message that is 6-5-3-2, with the last two letters being ED. That makes no sense to me, and I cannot make many real words (12A is fine!) out of the eight shortened words I have entered. Am I heading in the right direction?

Message is 6-5-5. note that for your last double entry, there are two different cells that might hold 2 letters.

pendragon - I was stuck like that for a good while. Look again at 27ac

Yes, exactly what I did.

Thanks, all. Yes, that's it!