Five clues consist of cryptic indications of partial answers; in each case, the indicated part must be treated thematically to create the full answer to be entered in the grid. Numbers in brackets refer to lengths of entries. Solvers need to 12 38 43 (a five-word phrase, in Chambers) in order to create each of the thematic entries, definitions of which are supplied by the other unclued lights. Elsewhere ignore an accent.
Across
1 Character of Eliot’s ode to a herb, oddly absorbing piece (14, two words)
9 College lecturer’s taken food (4)
11 Scattered corn, thus covering earth in enclosures for poultry (9, hyphened)
16 Sly look about a Scottish storyteller (5)
17 Acceptable to enter outside set times of prayer (5)
20 Second home (7)
21 Disorderly retreat, losing out (7)
24 Run with revolutionary sign (7)
25 Worry endlessly about refrigerant (5)
28 Collapse that is stopped by mobile police force (7)
31 Fungus in Egypt in rounded mass (7)
34 Sole flaky covering insect sheds (7, hyphened)
37 Joke about American prominence (5)
39 Manages hurt pose (6, two words)
40 Terrapin in academy studied (4)
41 Goddess receiving kiss, all terribly brittle? (9)
Down
1 Cry feebly, wanting money (6)
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