The unclued lights are of a kind, all confirmed in Chambers or Oxford. A portmanteau word (7) defining this phenomenon (verified in Oxford) must be highlighted in the completed grid. Ignore two accents.
 

Across

1    Fazed soldier losing face before VE Day (8)
8    Book musical with delayed start (4)
12    Playing records with no musical instruction (9)
13    Time to stop monkey goddess (5)
15    Person chanting beside private houses (7)
17    A figure in divine sun (4)
18    Stripped off Greek girl (5)
19    As grain may be, or pea under ground (8)
22    Swinger welcoming popular retailer (8)
23    Tiles of oak star designed (7)
25    Dropping Ecstasy, embraces partners (7)
27    Bill has brains, penning new kinds of words (7)
33    Control return of gun, worried (8)
34    See a harbour mostly in mist in America (5)
35    Theories in current text (4)
37    Stuck in earth, blocking where sheep are (7)
38    Ram’s lassoed that is secure (5, two words)
39    German island cape’s extremity (9)
41    See Nazis in defeat (4)
42    Boy hated new noir film (8, two words)
 

Down

1    Take spirit from a foreign musical genre (6)
2    Elegant bit of stock (4)
3    Respect satisfies English after uprising (6)
5    Rhetorical devices? Orates poorly without them (8)
6    Writer with nothing left in Welsh verse (7)
8    A toy nearly fine for German (5)
9    Attempt to keep sword up against shrub (9, two words)
10    Augustus or Nero imprisoning gate-crasher (6)
14    Douglas, say, to do haulage by new Scottish settlement (8)
16    Bird has a head of vile snake in Tyneside town (11, two words)
20    United in a tangle, perhaps having corners (8)
24    In fancy nook, make strange Japanese picture (8)
26    Bishop’s left drinking most ale and most rum (7)
28    Follows light vehicle (7)
31    See about old dish (6)
32    Active people taking power from sports cheats (5)
36    Developed dual region of China (4)
 
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 14 October. 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 2427, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.