The unclued lights are of a kind.
 

Across

 
1    Remains close to the co-founder of the Townswomen’s Guilds (5)
10    Willing to help prepare musical backing (11, hyphened)
15    Girl in a race to immerse boy with fragrant oil right away (8)
18    Wrung a confession out of us subjectively instead, maybe (7)
20    Snake wriggling in net on part of rigging (7)
23    City General — deserted on the Sabbath (5)
24    Sweet rice wine reduced — it goes round palm (6)
25    Wavering magistrate has no charge for disgrace (6)
28    Heard to have made one’s way to the region (5)
30    A French youngster received points having removed the packs (7)
32    Rooks — Spanish pipedreams? (7)
34    Shoe-lining for former captain of Essex (6)
36    A bar does badly in coastal area (8)
38    They are proficient, however, around the department (6)
39    Think again briefly of co-founder (5)
40    Seabirds bathe, wandering in southern uplands (11)
42    Large marble along the lane (5)
 

Down

 
1    Naval map with note about McArthy Trail (14, two words)
2    Naughty child’s endless swindle (4)
5    Noblemen court in the capital (5)
6    Excavator — one found in the jetty (7)
7    Connect with Tralee, maybe (6)
8    Illustrative elegiac text, incomplete, but edited (10)
12    Creature’s home fixed before end of shift (4)
17    Seasonal change involving Doctor Scarlatti (10)
19    A fellow’s anger — thus? (5)
21    Milliner takes this poet to heart (5)
22    Once legal action taken against one member’s chief role (7)
26    Festival meal for the love of Acis (7)
27    Capital from one independent baron (7)
29    Evaluate Jenny, apparently (6)
31    Standard choice of consecutive letters (4)
37    Eastender’s place on river (4)
 
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 4 November. There are two runners-up prizes of £20 (or, for UK solvers, the latest edition of The Chambers Dictionary — ring the word ‘Dictionary’). Entries to: Crossword 2135, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.