Clues for ten thematically linked entries (all single words) have been left out.
 

Across

9    Hot-rod awry? — fancy not being this (10)
14    Jackass regularly rejected 60s music (3)
18    Behind in award, finally going ahead (5)
20    Get better poet to enter competition (7, two words)
22    Venture around the City, not much of an area (7)
24    Extremely engaging men in ladies’ underwear — crikey! (7)
25    Worries about ship holding water capsizing (5)
26    Fight animals back, avoiding river (5, hyphened)
28    Enduring a lot of cobblers? (7)
31    Turned towards one’s love — British poetry (7)
33    Emphatically, anybody feels no wrong (7)
37    Model with a group of stars (5)
39    Chap, deft worker with no energy, died (6)
40    Diner picked up letter overseas (3)
41    Semi-pro air unsettled show manager (10)
 

Down

1    Offer, ultimately limited, outsider can’t change (13, two words)
2    Left in vile European city (5)
3    Runs over girl in African republic (6)
4    Polish uniform capped with head of US vulture (5)
6    Secretive folk revel noisily, heading off on Sabbath (7)
7    Casual clothing has tenor briefly ill-tempered (6, hyphened)
8    Indeed, no time for result (4)
10    Bullet used by bounty hunter, say (6)
12    Bias of private school over meeting about sons (13)
13    Unknown Frenchman cutting cake, one from a particular range (8)
21    Women in colleges see without judgement (8)
23    Scarf worn by Tom finally lost in sailing vessel (7)
27    Outdoor broadcasting now about training (7, hyphened)
29    Brief brawl before quiet strike by Spenser (6)
30    Muscle cut badly in unguarded press (6)
32    Nun against admitting wife in old English society (6)
34    Primarily wrapping up porcelain (5)
35    Spread food around bottom of bowl (5)
36    Initially knew all the answers in Japanese exercises (4)
 
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 24 June. 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 2411, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.