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Mooncow, 22d is 'gentleman' (3, with extra letter) reversed, around 'top', minus last letter.

Oh, so it is! Wasn't on the wavelength of that 'top' somehow -- not even one of the toughest clues -- just a mental block I guess! Many thanks mattrom.

PS I should have added a shout-out to 42a. What a fine bit of clueing. I'm still chortling. There's a name for contranyms: I shall now look out for, er, mutual contra-synonyms? Brilliant :-)

Gave up on this one as too trick. But having finished 4818 in double quick time (for me...) I came back to it and plodded my way to the finishing line. Well done, Lath.
Just one parsing query which no-one else has mentioned so it must be staring me in the face. Please put me out of my misery with 34d.

Def. Is 1st word. 3-letter abbreviation for next 3 words. 4-letter word for board from which you drop the first letter

Thanks, Will37.