BEARBOY
I had the answer to the "Winning ball amid cheeers with aim somewhat" clue in grid A.
I found that the four 10 letter answers revealed so far in this thread (naughty, naughty) would only fit together in one way and that, as they all came from the first clue in each pair of clues, that would be in Grid A.. This provided a good way to start the fill for grid A. 24A is, as you know, to be entered thematically. The square count is, as you have already, 8 letters, but the clue gives 9. So you need to lose a letter as specified by the first line of the second verse. The cross is an animal.