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Ah well, there you go! Just shows how wrong you can be when parsing a clue. Thank you s_pugh. Never thought of it as yet another anagram - there are a lot of them. I thought each word of the answer was being defined and the first word is sort of defined if you add an E to it and google it with 'invalid'. Very strange coincidence.

All complete but I can't see how the definition works in 34ac...?

I share your concern, Blacksaint, but to several of the thematic definitions. Without giving away the clue numbers, I cannot see how the first, sixth or seventh thematic definitions work. And that is when I know what I am looking for! It seems a pity that I have the puzzle complete without knowing these.

I can do 34 ac though. The 'technique' is applied to a single word, the first in the clue. I don't think it is very rigorous, however, since really the W and R ought to swap places, but the R seems to vanish.

Foinaven... funny that because the first, sixth and seventh thematics were the ones I had no problem with. It was the others I really struggled with! But I got there in the end. I agree about the W and the R

The definitions are thematic, as per the preamble. If the grid is complete, so you know the answer, work (thematically) backwards to find out the definition, for first, sixth, seventh,

For the second, (I think), it’s thematic to the first part of the first word only, with the first four words giving the defining characteristic of the 21 3, not the name itself.

Ah yes, I see 34ac now. It's horrible.

I will struggle on with these.

However, the thematics are not dealt with consistently. In the second and fourth, they show you how to recognise the 21 3 concerned. In the third and fifth, they indicate definitions of the answer which are nothing to do with 21 3 s. I suspect that it going to be the case for the ones I am having difficulty with.

Now I get it. You apply the technique to the answer for these three. So in fact it is being applied in three different ways!

I have managed to complete this puzzle without resolving the thematic parts of any of the seven thematic clues, even though I know what I am supposed to be doing with them. However, as far as I can tell, it does not matter. Does anybody else agree?