Diet By Curmudgeon (Alias Chalicea?) - http://www.crossword.org.uk/diet.html

[Matakari]

Good day, having some tricky moments digesting Chalicea’s offering before I can think of getting to the hidden instructions.
Thanks in advance again for coming to the rescue with answers/hints/parsing for the following:
ACROSS:
18 Turin ultimately abandoned southern birds (4) : TU?S
22 After sin in Israel check first of verdicts (3) : ??V
46 Curiously deliberating, get sadly lost involving two lines (8) : D?L??E??
48 Using a gun, joins military men (7) : S?L??D?
49 Misused shekels for Sikh hairdos and beards (6) : ?ES?E?

DOWN:
1 Pirates strike with heavy impact in places (7) : S?A?S??
31 Passion on board ship for food fish (7) : S?NDE?? ( SANDEEL)?

[scorpiojo]

49 Keshes

[roslyn251254]

18a lose the last letter of turin then anagram it with S (southern) for the birds with an extra R
22a Sin refers to the hebrew alphabet so you need the next letter....
46a anagram of deliberating minus get ...d is extra

[ProfessorMaisie]

18 'Tu[r]i(n)' - the 'r' is extra (the 'n' is accounted for in the wordplay - 'ultimately abandoned') + S
22 look for the letter following 'sin' in the Hebrew alphabet [extra 'b' from a 3 letter word for 'check'/bill] + first letter of...
46 anag of 'deliberating' minus the letters from 'get' with 'd' extra (so your 'd' is wrong).
48 military men minus extra 'i' (your 'd' should be R).
49 anag 'shekels' minus extra 'l'
1 RA[m] = 'strike' - 'm' extra in SEATS = 'places' (your 2nd 's' is wrong
31 [d]ANDER = passion ['d' is extra].

[roslyn251254]

48a usual military men...lose the i
1d your 2nd S is wrong. pirates is the defn ...it's hyphened
31a dander is the synonym for passion

[Matakari]

Many thanks! Seeking a confirmation for the following now:
22(a) After sin in Israel check first of verdicts (3) : TAV
26(a) Glut in this manner at Holyrood (3) : SAE
12(d) 12 Set routine of social security payment not entirely over (6) : GROOVE

[ProfessorMaisie]

Yes -
SA[t]E = 'glut' ['t' is extra].
G[i]RO = Soc. Security payment' ['i' extra].

[bobbinwales]

yes TA(B) + V(erdicts)- TAV is letter after sin/shin

[bobbinwales]

and sae i scottish (in holyrood) for So (in this manner)

[Matakari]

Thanks, all! On to the instructions and the "two letters in one cell" entry!