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A depressing weekend. Belting down with rain on the sandbank all day and Wales stuffed out of sight on Friday - just after I'd registered for tickets for the 2023 World Cup. However...

The fastest grid fill and translation of the title, so shouldn't give up just yet, despite hours of grid staring. Gleaning information from the above thread, the letter (single?) to be altered is in the SW corner and is a latin term for the species (singular?). Does this mean that the amended entry is still a real word? Somehow the thematic phrase is another term for the resolved title?
A lot of questions, I know.

Yes, the amended entries are real words. You are looking in the right area.

Try anagramming the puzzle title, or googling "why are the thematic guys disappearing?"

Thanks buddy
Your prompt reply appreciated. I'm now assuming that the three word phrase is an extension of the title and we are going Latin for the four letters entry. All I can see would make 3 down a non-word. Where am I going wrong and hope I'm not giving too much away? Thanks again.

Hi William, correct column but look a little further south

Quick question for anyone with good Latin - are there two potential 4 letter groups we could highlight? In addition to the solution offered by the posters below, I also noticed another 4 letter word in an across word that gives a plural rather than singular version of the theme (at least according to my free online Latin dictionary). The changed letter in this case does not lead to a real word, but then my reading of the preamble is that this last change doesn’t necessarily need to. And a plural to me is a better fit for a “thematic group”. Anyone else notice this? Or have my hours of frustrated grid staring driven me round the bend?

Splinters, that was what I spotted first after using my translator app. Then as you mention, others pointed out that you could make real words in another spot, using what I had always thought was the Latin for the thematic word.

What I'm wondering is if there is a unique three word phrase that fits all the conditions. Seems there could be quite a few possibilities, or am I missing something?

Hi MPRS,

If you put the title of the crossword into an anagram solver it gives a 2 word phrase, then if you put those two words into Google it gives a three word phrase - the third of which could also be an anagram indicator, although I don't know if that is intentional. The letters of the 4 letter word that's highlighted in the grid also appear in order in the three word phrase although, as stated in the preamble, not consecutively.

Sorry MPRS, I see you already had all that.

My outstanding query is the parsing of 4d - Pre thematic treatment I know it's an 8 letter word meaning "wet" and I'm sure of my answer but can't see the wordplay.

Brendan, 4a. is a word for 'opinion' (3) (not one I'd normally think of), shortened, + a word for 'act in a small way', both in Chambers