Thanks, professorplum for explaining 38D. I now agree that there is no superfluous word.
Now I just have to fill the three empty squares in 33D and to work out where to put the "beetle" mentioned in the preamble.
Not one of Doc's better puzzles. Once again he obliges solvers to refer to works of reference (sometimes one even has to have a specific edition thereof) to be able to solve his puzzles.
I have the theme and all but one of the unclued lights, but I am having trouble with 15D. Does this, with 31A describe the location by an alternative name? If so, not sure where to look to find it.
Many thanks Daniel .Good puzzle but have to agree with Helveticus,if you were to try and cold solve this it would be impossible without Google or a very good atlas .
Have solved clued lights.
No idea about 15D (?IS??) and unclued lights.
Chambers Wizard is not helpful.
Unclued 17D (S?O?SER) could be a resident of Liverpool.
BTW, the reference to a beetle in one square is new to me.
What does it mean?