Definitions in ten clues contain a misprint; corrections spell out a theme word. Unclued lights are four pairs of words of a kind, each relating to the theme word in a different way. Elsewhere, ignore one accent.
 

Across

11    Like some parasites? See ten in rotten tree house (12)
12    Statesman needs iron, regularly pale (5)
14    Flexible tenures for colony’s workers? (7)
16    Anglicans right, one’s sure to sin (4)
17    Libertine pockets good cosmetic (5)
22    Small horn’s whorl (8)
23    Climber’s average place to drop back (7)
24    Soundness of ship oddly slow across Channel (6)
25    Slat from special row (6)
27    Logical method has instrument working (7)
29    Group crossing hard stage, one in field (8, two words)
33    Loose woman soon an unknown old lady (7)
34    Killer grabs hog’s head giving series of oinks (5)
35    Band name accepted in silence (4)
39    Gender-changing stories recited piercings (12)
40    Parisian cheers carbon-free club (4)
41    Round number in party most times (8)
 

Down

1    Harass with knife, very heartless (6)
2    Academician with one novel, a long tome (4)
3    Join the Tories? One gives warning sigh (6)
4    Like old actor stumbling in with Oscar (7)
5    After treatment, see eardrum’s reassessed (10)
6    They let slimmer monarch into assemblies (7)
8    Rebuffed rubbish American cobbler (5)
9    Spanish desks are said to come in indefinite numbers (9)
10    Seaman transported away (6)
15    Chap in boring song with new countryman (11)
20    Alert writer voided entry in dictionary (8, hyphened)
21    Raised vessel: helium’s stored after that hydrocarbon (9)
26    Wasteful earl has the glove from Dior? (7)
28    Call on fool for Asian money (7)
29    Chief’s discomfort getting into S&M (6)
30    Aboard vehicle, touring isle pointlessly (6, two words)
31    Rut was mined, giving least gold locally (6)
32    Month in parliament is ridiculous (5)
36    Ecologists not respecting Roman clay (4)
 
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 19 September. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. (UK solvers can choose to receive the latest edition of the Chambers dictionary instead of cash — ring the word ‘dictionary’.) Entries to: Crossword 2276, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.

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