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After prolonged thought I've decided to go for letters - the author would have needed to be ArEs to make it consistent with numbers.

Took a while for the penny to drop but got there in the end within a day. Last issue was parsing 29a as, despite regular appearances, I'd forgotten the Glaswegian grandchild word.
Regarding the final, thematic, completion I don't submit them but if I did I would enter the relevant number above every letter/letter pair in the grid as that's how they appear in the theme subject.

Cockie, I expressed the point badly, so I understand your perfectly fair quibble.
This is what I was getting at. Most answers need at least one cell with two letters, and are written thematically to fit the grid. The others are still written thematically because they have thematic letters needing upper case. Four of them could be written differently, but then they wouldn't fit the grid because they would clash with crossing answers and would have extraneos letters from crossing answers or blank cells. Fitting the grid doesn't just mean fitting the available space; it also means fitting in with the other answers.

Oh, also entering them as suggested resolves any conflict with those answers where there are no extra letters, everything is consistent and more 'realistic' than a grid full of numbers.

Probably my last comment on the matter:
Except in very special circumstances it's unusual to write the thematic items as numbers. In crossword clues they indicate letters not numbers. If a departure from this norm were required surely the preamble would have to be very differently worded.

Don’t really understand the debate of letters v numbers - numbers never occurred to me. Single letters and double letters in the cells all concur with the theme.

murky - I agree. If only Ares (or the Editors) had chosen a title which did not open the door on an ambiguity. I'll go away now ...

Totally agree with you cockie. There is no explicit message or indication that numbers have to be used. The title itself is not enough to say “all entries should be like this”. All cells are thematic because they all contain symbols of elements - either one or two letters. What will be interesting is whether the checker allows numbers as an alternative. If he does then the puzzle is flawed because there should only ever be one final solution. If he doesn’t then it will be considered unfair especially for those trying to get a whole year of correct entries! Perhaps someone will call back in three weeks.

Thanks, Wintonian - as soon as I used I from "ill-bred", it all fell into place.

One of my problems was that I thought 31ac had "political" as the extra word, and the P didn't help. I still don't understand that clue - indeed, I may have the wrong answer completely, as mine doesn't fit with 28d, but overall it's done. Thanks again

Hi dylan, 31a is a symbol of bunches of rods, individually weak but strong in a bundle, and is hidden in the clue. The result is the root of a particular political group with a rather poor reputation. I think 28d is a v similar word which is sort of 'related to the dashboard' and both words are close in Chambers.