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1a is a word, probably one that you'll know, but it's not in the dictionary.

Thanks, found it! Posting always helps :-)

Simond9x and Whistler, the wordplay on 8d is a 3 letter word for 'sink' (think tides) in a 2 letter word for 'it' (think that man/woman has 'it', depending on preference), all reversed. The answer is a foreign word, but is in Chambers.
Actually, on reflection... I'm doing this from memory so apologies if I'm unhelpfully remembering the wrong clue!

Bit of a curate's egg for me. Found too many of the clues too contrived / bit of a stretch and still don't understand wordplay for 4d, 9d and 32a or the def for 13a.

And the fact that the key phrase just doesn't work in terms of what you have to do makes it a bit of a GWIT, can understand why some are struggling (presumably why the preamble refers to using it as a hint). Wasted some time scouring the work before the penny dropped.

But the idea and links between the various aspects of the theme is very clever and did make me smile a couple of times.

Thanks, espebe. One of those where you wonder why you didn't see it (despite spending 20 minutes pulling it every which way).

Kindred2- words 2-4 are an instruction. Word 5 another instruction. One letter abbreviation finishes it off. Last 6 are definition. Adjustment needed. Hope that helps.

Thanks, Simond9x and Espebe. That sorted 8d.

Still not seeing 32a and 37a but I'll try again tomorrow.

Smellyharry - for similar reasons to you, I'm only 90% on the parsing of 9d and 13a myself.

4d - a misspelling in the definition at end gives a 'similar to' explanation. Hope that helps.

Thanks Whistler. I can see the definition for 4d, it's the wordplay I can't see.

I've seen it now, should have seen it earlier

I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, I can appreciate and marvel at the skill that went into constructing the clues with thematic and mechanical constraints. On the other, it seemed that in many cases those constraints led to an unpleasant, confusing, or incomplete experience for the solver. I certainly felt myself in each of those categories at some point in my solve.

The end game on its own I found quite enjoyable. I struggled with many of the misspellings and clues in what might be the most important part of the description so it took me awhile to get there, but when I did, I enjoyed the result.

In the end I am fairly happy with this one as a fun experiment in clue writing. But as someone who tends to disregard surface reads and deeply appreciates a smooth, enjoyable solving experience, I think I'll stick to my less thematic surfaces.