Am off for fish and chips - I need some brain food.
I still have blanks at 18 A ?a??h
23 A ei??e
25 D. ?n?o??s
I think 18 A is affected, but it'd be good to get confirmation.
If I'd known you were going I would have asked you to bring me some.
For 18A I have a word that starts with B and ends with I. A religious sect.
(This is not one of the affected words. The theme means all nine have to be down)
For 23A I have a word meaning 'not stiff'. It starts with L and ends with E.
Thanks, boreas- am almost there. (I gave myself problems by not doing anything with 8D - I entered it as it was)
PS. The haddock was lovely, I think it's worked.
I stopped myself putting in 6 D as I knew by then there was something involving 'lh'. I haven't got the theme yet -and I've not got enough letters in sequence for the names (well, I have the first one/part of the first one).
I've fixed 23 A and 18 A. All I have to solve now...7 D and 17 A - slightly tricky as I have to work round adapting 6 D and 8 D. I'm enjoying this, even though I seem to have made heavy weather of it.
I was very lucky because I spotted the 'command' and the theme quite early into this. And the theme would not be familiar to anyone at the (how shall I put this?) younger end of the age spectrum.