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At the risk of annoying some of those who disliked this, I thought it was a corker. The 4 thematic “in two senses” are exactly as they should be; the endgame is a treat as is the title. And 24 is a gem. Thank you, Leo

Still need a bit of help on this one - in the preamble the reference to 'across thematic items' does it mean the 2 thematic answers OR the thematic words in each of the other clues. Either way I'm not getting anything that makes any sense!!

Jack Aubrey - I fully agree with your post, I really liked this puzzle. The title certainly helped me in the final solving.

mandyrob - i puzzled over this and inspiration struck this morning - its neither of those. Note it says "spell"...

Managed to get through without getting too stuck at any specific point. I echo the sentiments of others on the obscurity of 1A compared to the others in the set, as well as the annoyance of trying to pin down one quote out of many options (similar to how I felt in 4800).

I got a big chuckle out of 24D though and the end game is nice otherwise.

The significance of the title is lost on me, however.

if you adjust the title thematically you will get a relevant word

Regarding complaints about the obscurity of 1a, consider the constraints put on the rest of the grid by the 30 cells to be highlighted. Now think about the need to find 4 words that can be altered in a "doubly thematic" way and fit into the rest of the grid. I'm not sure how many "doubly thematic" words even exist, but the fact that the setter could find 4 and work them into the grid was, to me, a remarkable achievement.

Thanks candledave! I wasn't looking deeply enough into the relevant Chambers entry to see the significance.

I found this an enormously enjoyable puzzle. So often one tries to solve a clue fully before the pencil hits the grid, but here I found myself making an informed guess at the grid entry and only, with a full grid, going back to find out why my answers are correct (except in the two cases where they weren't) to derive the necessary letters from the across clues for the endgame. Great fun.

It turns out that I thought this was the 4804 thread! It all comes of being on holiday and having to tackle two puzzles at the same time when I returned.

I spent a long time solving the clues and obtaining the grid fill for 4804. I think I know what I was meant to illustrate but I had no idea how to do so and found the rubric incomprehensible . So I had essentially done the crossword bit but I did not have the time or energy to finish it.

In desperation I switched to 4805 and managed the grid fill (including the four special answers) only to find myself in a similar position, but this time I was able to discover the 30 cells. Presumably all I have to do is highlight them. However, I haven't got any idea as to how this process is deducible from the rubric.

The irony is that I was on holiday in Rome visiting the various archaeological sites, getting a feel for the 4805 theme! But then KC did not set out to challenge us to guess what he was thinking.