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Drxx, how were you able to answer my question two minutes before I posted it?! Many thanks, that's what I thought but the definition of the container word seems very strained.

Yes, the relevant def is quite a long way down the Chambers' entry for that word (I nearly didn't bother}.

Thanks, drxx, for explaining the constructed clue. This setter is actually very precise, which is why I am unhappy about not understanding everything.

Now I have to sort out 33d. The easy bit is the definition, which is a word I recognised !

I'm sure you'll know the more usual spelling of the slang word, foinaven (ending in '...ers').

Happy New Year to all.
Still trying to finish NW corner of this one. Rest done, including most of the thematic stuff.
So any help with 1d would be appreciated and I also have an issue with my answer for 15d which I thought was right but nothing seems to fit in with 17a.
1d is Better raise official signal to cut altitude (6) I have ??F?ER.
I expect the official is the usual football one.

Happy New Year, lumen.

Yes, 1d is the usual official, after that '(to) signal' has a letter omitted, change the last word in the clue for that letter [all reversed, of course].
15d - change the third word from the end for a 3 letter abbrev (2 letters when 'leaderless') and the 'affected me' was in a classic Fawlty Towers sketch.

...17a the 'style' is a foreshortened version of a well known hair-do (it's another slang word for the slang John inside, but with a letter displaced).

Thanks!
Happy with 1d now.
Not clear what the definition is in 17a. Post-free = French leader?
And I can't follow your advice on replacing 4-letter Troy with a 3-letter abbreviation? That doesn't seem to follow the rules of the puzzle.

'post free' isn't a French leader (a Spanish one?) but it is the def.
Switch two letters in 'Troy'...

Belated thanks for your help foinaven, and Happy New Year. As a result of it I have managed to get over the line (assuming the movement of the cryptic representation results in the creation of two new words and leaves two non-words in the finished article of course).