Eight unclued lights are of a kind. Their unchecked and mutually checked letters can be rearranged to spell TOY OF A PARISH DEACON.
Across
1 Tramp with extremely dirty pet (5)
10 Believe cad misguided and open to being misled (10)
12 UK dramatist wreathing US city in bunting (7)
14 Flagged cab at last on English border (5)
15 Runs away from robust scrutiny (5)
16 Former kingdom of Crimea disintegrated (6)
22 Gloss paint oddly disappearing, not put away (8)
23 Company engaged in laundering, ignoring a stockholder (7)
24 Half-cut GP dismissed painful condition (4)
25 Courageous sort from Lisbon losing heart (4)
27 Eastern leader smuggling goods for boffin (7)
29 Tipsy heiress guzzling Rioja’s top wines (8)
32 Administer gas to tenor after time in A&E (6)
34 University campus is housing retinue (5)
35 Animal beset by catarrh in October (5)
37 Musk almost backing Tesla up gum-tree (6)
38 Endorsed destruction of inlaid tile (10)
39 Parasite left styes festering (6,3)
Down
1 Amazingly slim, poetic debater (10)
2 Entertain some ignoramuses (5)
3 Discover cop arresting another cop (6)
4 Toughen ban, explicitly covering poisonous plant (7)
5 Buoyancy aid Blair used over summer (3,7)
7 Unknown Yankee accepting fate in foreign capital (5)
8 Anchorage bar in which saddos regularly drink (9)
9 Reject cases of desperate nitwittery (4)
15 Endless bore finally extinguishing cigarette butt (6)
17 At home in Argyll, exhausted after examination of gut (10)
18 Superhero skewered by European cartoonist (7)
19 Officious announcement of award money (10)
20 Short guy unwisely consuming old dairy products (9)
26 Chemical reportedly nigh on commonplace (7)
30 Drive right into pontiff on left (6)
31 Check fans turned up on time (5)
33 Bloomer putting French solver on edge (5)
34 Listening devices picked up quarrel (4)
Download a printable version here.
A first prize of £30 and two runners-up prizes of £20 for the first correct solutions opened on 6 November. Please scan or photograph entries and email them (including the crossword number in the subject field) to crosswords@spectator.co.uk, or post to: Crossword 2627, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.
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