I'm all filled in, got the 'joiner' in the grid and the character to write below.
What I can't understand is what the shaded unclued words have to do with it, I think, apart from one of the words I know what they are, but I need to know what they have to do with the theme.
I'm probably being thick and would appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance
Hi Ripper, you're not being thick, as this was tricky. If you have the character it can be split up into three parts. Each part is suggested by two of the unclued entries. The first by 1d + lowest of the three across entries, and 23d. The second by right hand down entry and middle across entry. The third by 20dn and top across entry