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I thought I’d start by filling in some of the standard answers. Early on, the nature of the silvered entries became clear and consistent. So I didn’t have to attempt any of the set of thematic clues to complete that part of the grid and therefore have no idea what transforms produced the actual entries. Consequently, I am scunnered when trying to find the last piece of the jigsaw. Be careful what you wish for/happen upon!

OMG Jack, I'm in exactly the same position!

I had about 4 of the letters in column 1 and noticed it looked like a particular ... - then once I had the middle 3 letters of the clue to the left of 3d I noticed the same thing ... and on it went.

But I have yet to solve a single thematic clue:-)

If you solve just one thematic clue, the theme becomes clear and the rest fall right out. The title allows you to make a good guess as to what category the thematic answers fall into.

Note also that two or three of the silvers are ambiguous and therefore you cant complete the grid without the thematics.

In particular there are two possibilities for both silvers in the last column, as well as most obviously for the first entry in row 5

Thanks Buddy, I'd noticed the short 4 letter one that goes across 14d in row 5 could have either of 2 last letters so knew there must be more to it.

It has taken me longer to solve the thematic clues than it did to complete the crossword (still have one to go!).

The final one in the grid rather stood out when I looked in the common places for these things. 😊

If you thought my protestations of fatigue were exaggerated - I've just posted this whole thing on the wrong thread! 🤬

This is ridiculous. It took me about an hour to solve all the across and down clues, from which I was able to write in all the "changed" thematics (leaving the odd first or last letter where there's choice of two).

Since then I've Googled all the 7a names (or both where there might be choice) but after 4 hours (I kid you not) I've managed to parse 9 of the 14!

Take "Old bird of prey nests on islands" - the first 4 letters are "an old bird of prey" but how can the remainder come from "nests on islands"? Even if "nests on" just means sits on top of in a down clue it still doesn't work - Chambers shows it as an archaic form of "ashore" and I just don't think they mean the same thing.

Anyway, that's just one of the 5 still outstanding and it's late and I need some rest. Tomorrow's a big day - my beloved Iron's are hosting Chelsea and our brave Lionesses could make sporting history - wouldn't that be terrific 🤞

Brendan, I was stuck on the 'old bird ... ' clue as well. The remainder is in Bradford's under 'islands' - a proper noun.

Thank you Mattrom, much appreciated.

4 still to parse though so I will no doubt be back 👍