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I believe the title is a cryptic way of referring to the place where the thematic work is set.

Think of a (famous, old) example of the first word of the title.

Thanks Heisenberg for the info. Knowing the cryptic meaning of the title how is it used in the completed grid ? I must be missing something else I think.

uncle_w, there may be some confusion. Heisenberg is referring to the cryptic title of the puzzle, but that has no bearing on the puzzle itself. If you have completed the grid, made the necessary changes to reveal the thematic Title referred to in the preamble, the only thing left is to make some further changes to unravel the five cryptic instances of the secret Sign. If you do this correctly you will then be able to read the two words of the Contest. This needs care because in two cases the unravelled secret Sign could start at two different points but only the correct starting points will enable the two words of the contest to appear.

Thanks Dryden . It was a confusion I had already resolved when I realised that 'Roll' was an anagram indicator. I have 3 of the anagrams which are in rows 3 , 7 and 11 . As you indicated for two of these there are alternative starting points( Rows 3 & 11) , not yet resolved. Row 5 looked a possibility but realised that the word I had ended in 'E' not 'A' as required. Are they in Bradford ? The one in row 3 was surprisingly not.

Uncle_W, the 2 you are missing are both American, both 7 letters. The one in row 5 is also an American word for nonsense. The one in row 9 has a typical 3-letter ending.

The row 3 word is in my copy of Bradford (2010 edition) but not Chambers.

The one in row 5 is not, though a homophone of it is - at least that's the US pronunciation and it ends in neither E nor A.

The other one is in Bradford's too.

Thank you both for your help. Must update my Bradford obviously !
Took quite a bit of searching to get the one in row 9. Now i've finished I must thank all the others on this forum for their help.

I have the title, a completed grid and the five cryptics unraveled (not sure where to start theunraveled word in lines 3 and 11). Exhaustion has now set in and I am having difficulty in finding the cells to begin thet wo words to reveal the Contest. Advice would be warmly welcomed

Notrab - cell 7 in line 3 and cell 3 in line 11.
Uncle_w - If you have an ipad then the latest Bradfords Dictionary on Kindle app is brilliant. It sits alongside Chambers, Chambers Thesaurus and Advanced Crossword Solver as the items I need to do battle with the Listener - especially with this beast!!

Thanks Included. This gets the two cryptics in place in lines 3 and 11 but I am still struggling both to stay awake and to find the two straight line words to reveal the Contest. Zzzzzz.