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For a fairly typical crossword convention that's quite a fine distinction, dodgepot (I'm squarely in the elliptical school on this one}.

Good evening, all.

Just one loose thread for me. I can not make sense of 32d despite having three of the four letters. I think Drxx had a go at explaining it. I may have missed an earlier post and hence couldn't quite follow the thread of the hint. Could you clarify Drxx? Or anybody else?

Nice puzzle although not the sort of chilly theme I was anticipating at this time of year! Thanks Hypnos.

Can someone help with what the first 3 extra letters from down clues are doing?

I made a mistake with the archaism, whistler - dodgepot has it right with 'head' (4 letters) but the first letter is extra.
Maybe think of a stew or miscellany for the answer (last letter is from 'acting').
You'll find it cross-referenced in Chambers under a more usual Spanish word for a medley ending ''...io'' (this is the jar it gets its name from - all a bit circuitous, but that's what I opted for).

Whistler,
4 letter word for top of the head (missing a letter) followed by single letter for 'acting'; definition is last word, from a foreign culinary term.

Espebe - you may well have made the same error as me with the extra letter in 1d. If you have a 'u' as the extra letter it's wrong (although the clue does work with that extra).

Oh dear, I have a U2. Extra letter must come from blood then?

Thanks, Espebe, Drxx

Although there are two related words, it seems to me that the one that is actually a medley is not the answer, if I have read Chambers right.

Espebe - re the first three down clues, I'm afraid I too am at a loss. I had what I thought was a cast iron extra for 3d. However the rest of the message suggests a word which doesn't corroborate that. I'm also still wrestling with the last 9 extra letters. I thought I had wrapped this one up but I'm now not so sure.

One of the meanings of the actual answer is the halfway house word that means a medley. They are variants, really.

The first three down letters form a word meaning except. And again, the missing letter in the first clue comes from a short form synonym for blood as a term of address. Much loved among some of the youth of today.

If you read the preamble carefully you will see that the message spelt by the extra letters reveals an instruction and a name. That should clear up the final nine letters

Thanks, Dodgepot. That immediately clears up the first three. I was trying, without luck to fit another, similar 3 letter word.

Still working on the nine but I assumed I was looking for a name.