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Enjoyed this immensely. Some challenging clues, and a very neat way of spelling out the theme.

I managed to fill in the normal clues and then guessed word searched
the thematic clues giving the right quantity/type of letters.
Is there meant to be a theme ?

The nine letters featured in the unclued entries (with some repetition) can be arranged to give a title.

Have a completed grid though with alternatives at 1D and 33D. Can’t be bothered trawling through all the unches. No idea what the theme is supposed to be and surprised it’s possible to complete the grid without knowing. So fairly unsatisfactory in all, despite some neat clues as already noted.

Hypotheses, if you have alternatives then you might not have completed the grid properly? I found it quite satisfying to make sure I had the correct version, though I'd been tempted just to stick in viable alternatives.

I’m pretty sure I have completed the grid correctly but confirming the last two correct alternatives would require a long slog through all the unches which just feels like a step too far at the moment.

You should also have alternatives for the unclued 24a (at least eleven alternatves) and only two are possible, given the theme.

Thanks, Hypotheses. I didn't find it too long a slog, but on previous occasions I've felt like you did today!

My initial checking showed I had 2 wrong entries but all's now done.

DRXX - sorry, I may have misled you in that I do realise that the unchecked letters in themed lights must be one of the nine different letters in the introductory phrase, so even without cracking the theme or individually checking unches, there are not 11 alternatives at 24A, but there are three possibilities at 1D and two at 33D which can only be confirmed the long way round. Might bite the bullet tomorrow.