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Thanks to all contributors to this thread but having filled the grid on Saturday we are now at Wednesday and I still haven't got a Scooby as to what the theme is.
I've looked up every link to Bigfoot I can think of; examined most of Auden's works and searched for murders on Heaths (or by Heaths) but am still perplexed. Well done Dysart! Like many others on this site I have much enjoyed your puzzles over many years - solving them all - but it does seem that you've got me in the end.
I suspect the NE corner carries the clues I need to complete the end game. Can someone give me an oblique hint?
Thanks.

Hi Stacpolly,

I think I am allowed to say that you can feel confident about your suspicion, but don't over complicate it and just look at what is written in that corner.

I have solved all of the clues apart from 32 down. I can only find one word which will fit, but as I see it, its first five letters do not mean "monkey". My Chambers gives the first five letters as an alternative spelling of a seven letter word for a mythical being. The five letter alternative spelling does not appear to apply to the other two meanings, one of which is a monkey. Where am I going wrong?

Hi Opto,

32d - You're right about the first 5 letters being "monkey" with the 6th and final being "top of evergreen" giving the definition "plant"

At least that's how I read it:-)

Sorry Opto,

I misread your post and see you're asking whether the 5 letter word can apply to 'monkey' and the 'mythical being' - I had the same thought but just assumed it must be if it made it into the clue. Be interested to hear what others think.

Brendan, I think we must have the right answer, but it is only supported by Chambers if the alternative spelling applies to all three of the meanings of the five letter word. I am not sure that it does, but I cannot see any other way of arriving at the only word which will fit into the grid.

Crossed posts Opto:-)

Brendan, for the time being I am going to assume that we have the right answer and move on to the end game. So far, I have the poser of the question and have replaced her with the answer, leaving three empty cells. Can't see the next step, although the fourth row looked promising for a while.

0pt0 and Brendan I completely agree about 32d. I’m sure the answer is correct but I’m not sure that it’s supported by BRB.

Hi all.

We get so used to ‘Chambers is the primary reference; the answer to X is in the ODE’, that I guess we assume that if it’s not in either it can’t be correct.

The five letter spelling is in Collins, Merriman-Webster, (and Bradford’s) as an alternative to the seven letter version of a macaque.

To the poster chasing the title; earlier posts referred to the usefulness of the title in getting the theme.

That would be *very* dependent on one’s educational background… but it’s a useful check that you’re on the right lines.