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20d three letter synonym for each, then alternate letters from the clue.

Thanks- now complete, hard work.

Finished, with some help from the forum up to and including dhope's advice on my LOI, 29a: not a Vandyke I know of. FOI was 25a, first SI was 23 which led me to the SI theme as I was confident of the answer and the clue for last 4 letters. I'd already solved 19's defn, so the theme agreed with that and I was well away. Husband suggested the SI for 26, and it was a delight to find a place for it. I enjoyed this puzzle!

I know I’m late but thought I’d add:
My FOI was 25A, which gave me 25D as my first SI. I was them convinced that the 12 were the Chinese ‘zodiac’, another group of 12 not mentioned, and wasted ages trying to find them before I realised I was wasting my time. Ironically I (like others) struggled with NE corner and 6d, one of only two other SIs from the Chinese list, ended up my LOI!

Altogether good fun, thanks to Boatman and thanks as ever for all the chat and hints here.

I get the printed paper but, again like others, I do not see the SIs on my iPad, I’ll ask The Guardian why not and let you know if I get a response

… and a commendably swift response:
‘ We are looking to overhaul our puzzles offering in the future, your feedback on the special instructions will be taken into account at this time, but not immediately, unfortunately. ’

So it’s just a matter of waiting…

Actually I found the instructions on the iPad by clicking the “?” at the top. Not very obvious, but they do exist.