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At the moment I'm in the "enjoyable and novel" camp but judging by the moaning about the endgame, this might change

Thought this was alright. 1a annoying, somewhat balanced by 24d.l being very clever.
Endgame very Gwitty unless you spot the 12 letter word by chance.

Not sure how it got through the editorial process given average answer length well below required min.

2 loose ends, can't see wordplay for 23d and 27d.

SH, in 23 D, the first two letters give the second word of the clue, the next three form an abbreviation of the third word, and the last three letters are 'washing liquid', but that last bit is 'thematically altered' to give the correct answer... Hope that isn't too garbled!

Thanks. I guessed that was how the first 5 letters worked (although I wasn't convinced as the first 2 letters are a noun and the clue seems to be an adjective?). Have now seen the last 3, forgot about thematic adjustment to the wordplay for some reason.

27?

THanks, SH. I think that's a fair point about the first two letters - but I think I must have seen it used before, I thought nothing of it at the time.

27 D. Sorry, I just went with what fitted nicely and seemed to meet the definition ...

TIM (Traditional Indian Medicine) around TOI(L)S

Thanks Jordan, not sure if I've seen TIM before, think I might have and forgot it.

Very neat grid, interesting device, and some lovely clues. A few less lovely clues, the preamble vagueness about “across clues’ thematic items”, obscurity of the source and flailing around for a quotation slightly spoiled it for me: it came down to gwit/solve-by-google, which took the edge off what should have been delight at the way it was represented in the grid! But still an enjoyable solve: thanks Leo.

45d is all checked letters, but I can’t figure out that clue. Could someone possibly give me a wee hint to set my mind at rest?

I took it as 'and/lit' ... answer has a meaning new to me but in chambers ... wordplay 2+1+1

I've finally finished after a week, with a full grid and highlighted cells. One thing I don't understand is 17a - I'm happy with 9d, and the letter that implies for where they cross. But that means the definition for 17a is not where I expect it to be in the clue - the usual reading would surely lead to a different third letter which isn't present in 9d at all.

I'm doubting myself though, as nobody else seems to have queried it...