Cryptic crossword No 931

Ideally, the cell in the middle should be blank, but I can't work out how to do that on here.

Thanks Lamppost, very enjoyable - twigged the gimmick pretty early thanks to 10a 16a, and initially thought you might be going a bit gentler on is ... but soon got caught up on some pleasingly tricky stuff! Favourites 14a, 18a, 2d (took me far too long to parse!), 17d 22d, 19d & 24d Spoilers ...

An interesting challenge, Lamppost, but too tough for me in the end with some revealing needed. I didn't find the multi-light answers at all easy. Clues I liked include: 7a, 14a, 22a/31a, 26a/23d, 2d (very good), 24d and 28d. Spoilers in Reply. Thanks. PM

Never did twig what was going on with the theme but with your caveat it makes sense. Cleverly done. A couple points in reply:

Thanks Lamppost, I almost got there by myself but like PostMark had to resort to a few reveals. If I'd spotted the theme, I might have done better. Particularly liked 11a, 14a (fun surface), 30d (ditto), 5d among others. But as others have said, the crossing pairs made things difficult in places and I struggled to parse some clues even after solving correctly. But that's on me - still and always learning...