All but one of the unclued lights are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. The remaining one links the others. Ignore one apostrophe and two accents.
Across
12 Prepare linguine vongole starter for opening ceremony (9)
13 Two guys retiring to Hawaiian island (5)
15 Cartoonists redesign a main story, cutting the end (9)
16 Letter about convict in fur coat (6)
20 Sore feeling follows a dry official (7)
21 Game start for cavalier tough guy (6)
22 Notice vicar coming back with bishop drunkenly? (6)
24 Declaring final leg in gymnastics displays (8)
27 Pitch for art nouveau (3)
32 I mix gin and it on lighting up (8)
35 One third of all footsores may develop into much bigger growths (6)
37 Go back to tenant over final part of upgrade (2-5)
39 Repeat standard rubbish (6)
42 Wealthy male taking drug in government building (9)
43 I had a tool for caller ID (5)
Down
1 Equipment has crack (4)
2 Edit any rude description of ill-advised king (7)
4 Over range, fresh rain falls (7)
5 Checks good and bad actors after drink (8)
6 Complain partners live untidily (6)
8 Have a game of Othello? (4)
9 Wickedness and hatred overwhelming men (8)
10 Heads of Bournville, Ovaltine, Rowntree and Cadbury rejected chocolate substitute (5)
11 Acrobatic hoist, weights and high bars are common occurrences here (10)
14 Bad writer is silly goose? (5,4)
17 Sweet city with liberal vibe (6)
18 Show time in storage (9)
19 Doctor participated without physical training relating to children’s medicine (10)
23 Juvenile delinquent is on the up to some extent (6)
25 Seriously gutted – not one tiny glass of liquid in joint (8)
26 Moan audibly about empty snack container (4,4)
30 A little woman ate every sea creature (7)
31 Crown is my single piece of treasure (7)
33 Addressed to ‘Dear Dicky’ (6)
36 Labour in firm belief (5)
38 You ain’t half grand! (4)
40 Boring plants irking us now and then (4)
41 Go off climbing small hills (4)
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A first prize of a £30 John Lewis voucher and two runners-up prizes of £20 vouchers for the first correct solutions opened on 2 February. 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 2735, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP.
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