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1 A. Pattern seldom changes - that's not special (8) ??a?t?e?
25 A. How to change doctor (7)
??su???
NB. There are single-letter misprints in the definitions in some clues in this puzzle.
Thanks for any assistance.

Chips - those are two of the entries that you have to fiddle with before entry into the grid. The extra letters in other clues give you a famous song which is the instruction.

The answers to the clues youre struggling with have many fewer letters than the final grid entries. My advice would be to park them until you've worked out what the overall theme is - that's what I did anyway!

Good lord i've been wracking my brains over these -- thanks barrista

Thanks - the preamble was so long, I had't got as far as deciphering it all yet. Will move on to what I hope are normal clues.

Ironically the clues themselves (to the 2 you're struggling with) are normal - if they gave you the 'proper' number of letters to the answers (ie before you fiddle with them) you'd see them both in a flash - both common words.

Barista, thanks again - think I'll keep trying with those two for a bit.

Barista, can I just ask - are the answers which have been modified all real words?

No. If it helps, one letter in each 'theme' word is replaced with a sequence of letters. The sequence is in each case a real word, and 'of a kind'. The same letter is in each case replaced. The pound sign in the middle is a huge clue.

Thanks, barista - I realised earlier that they wouldn't be real words and have just about finished.