2074: Capital punishment

Six unclued lights are synonymous with one unclued light which, according to a quotation in ODQ, is 38 43 (five words). The key light is integral to the name of the quotation’s author, which must be highlighted.

Across

Most popular

Tom Bower

Labour is destroying London’s nightlife

1    Boats, bad in parts, seem abandoned (14, two words)
9    Joke about current revelry (4)
11    Tories in error bash broadcast (9)
14    Cheats once or twice around end, losing marks (6)
16    See poem turning true (5)
17    Gets away from contemptible people, not united (5)
20    Baronet in love, ill-mannered, thrust forward (7)
24    Prayers from bishop and me in garden (7)
25    Cycle in square with rail round (5)
26    Quarrel, not having book in hand (5)
28    Applies to receive European jackets (7)
31    Examines exercises and tricks (7)
34    More treacherous, reverse of clear and level (7)
37    Take and approve Japanese dish (5)
40    Lines in old article jar (4)
41    Bird in tree with strange secret (9)
42    Soldiers around whale (4)

Down

1    Labourer with good bit of grub (6)
2    Note call for attention in ring (5)
3    Lake and stream up in Scottish area without mountains (6)
5    Whimsical book about year provided (7)
6    Haughty types from islands taken in by cunning sailor (7)
8    Service stopped by authors after singular indecision (8)
10    So I get nice nuts of similar origin (10)
13    Plain dweller completely rising above emperor (7)
18    Mad about fluency, ignoring odd bits of individual’s speech (10)
19    Seal notice with difficulty (8)
23    Depressing to keep changing data step by step (8)
27    Worm, look, in end of loaf (7, hyphened)
29    Set aside pirate’s last weapon on vessel (7)
30    Matter involving radius in circle (6)
32    Retreat northward to Venetian district (6)
33    Paratrooper may sink badly without one (6)
35    Reception in shelter guarding against ecstasy (5)
36    Grey part of peculiar design (5)