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Thanks malone.
I did figure out the second word and like begemot will have to wiki.

i just went down the list on google when i figured out the first one

The theme words have "been done to death" in other crosswords including the Guardian.....

Xwordfan, I must have been lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view!), I hadn't come across the theme/theme words' use in a puzzle before.

Nice puzzle for a wet afternoon. The “process” was new to me but the theme words are becoming familiar, some I didn’t even need to look up. Still haven’t been there but got as far as Durness last month....stunningly beautiful in the (admittedly rare) sunshine.

I assume the unclued entries are English words that have been translated into a language given by two special entries but without the usual suffix. However, practically all the examples I see on the internet start with vowels, and yet my unclued words begin with consonants, so I don't see how I can find the English originals.

I think you're on the wrong track. The last letter of the answer (before you add the suffix) appears first in the unclued entry, the rest is in the correct order. Then add the suffix. The word isn't a real word until the suffix is there.

Thanks, malone, I think I can do it now. That isn't how pig latin really works (as far as I can tell) so how we were supposed to know to use this other method baffles me. And yet many of you out there got it so it's my failing!

I found the relevant information - on how to translate - somewhere on Wiki. Before that, I had very confusing stuff about vowels and 'consonant clusters' (or something similar.

I also read and tried the "consonant clusters" method first before seeing what was needed (much simpler of course)

This doesn't work at all. The only entry that gives the required thematic name by following the thematic process is the five-letter entry on the right of the grid (crossing 25 & 26). The others are just completely wrong and follow a pattern that seems to be of the setter's devising. At the very least the preamble should have referred to the modified application of a process, etc.

The definition for 11a is very misleading. It is the precise definition given for TRANSMIGRATING, and for a while I thought PIG, MIG, RAT were relevant. The actual word needed has a slightly differently worded definition. Normally that wouldn't matter, but in the absence of any word length given for the longer words it's very significant.

It's a poorly devised puzzle in my view.