Ten of the eleven unclued lights are of a kind and consist of singleton of two words, three pairs and a trio. The eleventh unclued is thematic when paired with an anagram of the five highlighted red letters. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe and an accent.

Across

4 Talked of mark on potato magazine (9)
11 Little girl, outside in the morning, is wandering (5)
14 Fabric — some linen? — on inventory (5)
15 One clad in extra silk (5)
16 Service of diplomat in Serbia (6)
21 Difficult situation having coarse flax by joint (8)
22 Descent, using a rope, perhaps, taking time (7)
24 Still one that’s in the Skoda range (4)
25 Beastly noise a problem for calligrapher? (4)
27 Shy and introspective Hindu god with opponents (7)
28 Swedish composer arranged Wagner and Dohnanyi’s first and last pieces (8, two words)
37 General Electric’s people develop over a long time (7)
38 Leave zero capital (5)
40 Dutch city where ginger nut’s first on order (9)
41 Cubic measure nothing short of a hi-fi (5)

Down

1 Rode in a cross-country motorbike race, having urges for snack (13, two words)
2 Singing in bath ultimately in the pink (6)
4 Rock he sculpted on head of Hercules first (6)
5 Covered walk for Scottish bird (4)
6 Endowment from church worker on the tracks (7)
7 East End school, one found near Bow? (5)
8 Survey of deliveries to Volkswagen that is inside (8)
10 Aid to achieve one’s goal when crossing a river? (13, two words)
13 Removing trim from new sitting room? That’s futile (7, three words)
15 Managed with what was available and did the same (6, two words)
17 Leeks cultivated with hard cash (6)
19 Yawning gap I entered leading to a crossing-point (7)
20 SOS’s not right — it’s dying down (6)
23 Rare rain storm about end of contract payments (8, two words)
29 Remain a while, having nothing nasty for treatment (6, two words)
30 Garden game take-away to carry on Northumbrian river (6)
32 Aid to climbing in ostentatiously good fashion (5)
36 22 rush and streak (4)

A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 10 August. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. Please note that until further notice entries should be clearly scanned or photographed and emailed (including the crossword number in the subject field) to crosswords@spectator.co.uk — the dictionary prize will not be available. We will revert to postal entries after the pandemic. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery./>