Congrats for completing, you three! But I am now in the same position as Prospero and Buzzybee were. I have the 7 themed solutions and have completed the grid (I think) but can't parse 2d and 8d, and am not sure about some of the extra letters. So the common theme from the extra letters is still a complete mystery to me.
Help with parsing 2d & 8d might help, please...