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There may be people still planning to give this one a go, so your mention of the theme word is premature. Suggest you ask Norah to edit.

I'm inclined to agree with chrise.

If this needs 'special instructions', then where are they?

With over 150 posts I've only been through a few pages so apologies if 2D has already been hinted at. Another one would be appreciated.
13D as explained isn't in my dictionary.
Maybe the special instructions explain why some clues (e.g. 7, 8D) appear to be only partial?
I'm missing 6 altogether but I can wait for 225.

The clues that appear to be lacking a definition are indeed thematic; however, 7 is not one of them. The definition is at the beginning.

13d is definitely in Chambers.

For 2d the first 5 letters are a term common in the business world for consolidation of companies, but it usually appears as 1&1, and here the "and" is spelled out. Then one letter for "are not extremely" and the usual "popular."

And have another go at 6. You're overlooking something.

A bit unfair. Got there eventually. STuck my neck out.

Thanks darla

I meant I had 6 clues unsolved in total. Yes, I see 2D now but where is the definition? Is this related to some mythical 'theme' (??) or to missing special instructions?

Sorry, I meant 5D not 7D (no problem there) is not fully clued and neither is 8D, and possibly that's why I'm stuck on others.

What's up with CAPTCHA, site admins, I took me 5 goes and all were correct before it would let me in. Yes, I know... I'm being forced to work for free to train your AI - and somebody is paying you to collect the info but I'm not getting paid at all!

Sorry for misinterpreting. Yes, 2 is another thematic. If you wanted to take a shortcut, you could put all of the thematic words you have so far into your favorite search engine.

Earlier in the thread it was agreed that there were 10 thematic entries, plus two other clues that contain the key word.

Late posting cos I’ve been away at my mum’s for the weekend. I started this in bed on Saturday morning. I found most of the unthemed clues to be straightforward, so I made pretty good progress. With lots of crossers, I was then able to get some of the themed clues, and realised something was odd. Went looking online to see if I could get a pdf with special instructions, but no joy, so I decided they must be missing, and that undefined clues were linked in some way. Sadly it was too much to hope that I’d get the correct theme - I thought it might be musicals/operas, and couldn’t see how e.g. 8 fitted into that. But I chucked it in anyway, and did the same with 18, 26, and 28.
13d was my LOI, didn’t exactly love the clue, but I see it’s already been discussed! 😀
All in all I enjoyed it, but would have preferred it had the special instructions been included. I reckon the Guardian messed up, and Boatman just doesn’t want to say so. Fair enough.
I did think the theme was pretty obscure, but then I always think that!
All the best everyone.