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Thank you, Malone

Glad I could help.

Thanks to everyone's helpful hints I've managed to complete it. But I'm puzzled as to the relevance of the title. What's the connection?

I have almost finished but I am really struggling with the last part of the pre-amble. 'To complete the picture the cells contained within the outline must also be shaded'. The outline could be the first and last columns- in which case everything would be shaded - or the shaded parts in the middle of the grid. A pointer in the right direction would be appreciated.

Hi alwayspuzzled, the first and last columns are the thematic examples referred to in the preamble and there is no mention of them being shaded.

I agree with Ginge - those columns are clearly not intended to be shaded. When I had shaded all the cells specified, I had two single cells unshaded near the bottom, and I could see why the setter would want us to shade them, but I also had two unshaded regions which I thought would be better left unshaded. The picture was more attractive that way. However, the instruction said to shade them, so I did. The result is OK but not quite so nice.

Thank you for that Ginge and Rad. Foolishly I was getting my thematic examples and features mixed up. I agree with you Rad about it looking more pleasing if the gaps are left unshaded.

This was a bit of a grind I thought - partly because some clues were tough. However I have completed the grid and worked out the theme. Could anyone help me parse two clues?:
9 across Red types of deer picked up (5)
17 across Intrigued by string found in late presenters guts (4)
The definition is the first word in each case but I cannot see how the the wordplay fits.

Thanks for any help

Hi williamseal,
9a sounds like (roe + doe)
17a W)into(n [Dale], string here being a string of letters.

Still struggling with this puzzle.
I can’t parse 12d or 32a. Also, at present, I cannot see three other clues answers that can be associated with the theme. Any help would be very welcome.