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Thanks Brendan—I did indeed have subtractive anagrams for each, with answers that fit wordplay, but in both cases I still seem to have extra unnecessary words in the clues that I can’t account for. Your point about mismatching is one I hadn’t considered but I think since I’ve yet to crack the theme I’m not sure how it might apply! I’ll have to keep stating.

Aha, I’ve gotten 33ac, I somehow just flubbed the definition. Still flummoxed by 21ac entirely and confused about what appears to be a extraneous word in 18d.

For 21 the definition is the first four words minus the extra element.
For 18d one of the words either side of the penultimate word is an anagram indicator.

...sorry, that could be misleading - for 21 the definition is included in the first 4 words minus the extra element.

I'm sort-of there - I have the song, and 17/18 of the extra words, but not the extra letters.

I can't make sense of 18d, and I'm baffled by how eg 17ac is entered, though I can see where it's gone- but why?

I enjoyed this. Basically done before coming to forum. Which is nice.
But I’m not really done as haven’t solved the clues for 17a or 18a, although I have the entries.
Neither sleeping on it or restudying the various versions of the song have helped. An obtuse steer would be welcome!

Lumen - think about the thematic item that has moved

Of course, that's given me 17 thanks. Similar idea for 18?

Re drxx #35 perhaps in 38a “beginning” refers to the beginning of the abbreviation not the answer thereby eliminating rather than ignoring the mark?

Ignore that! Got them both.