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I really liked this puzzle and its wonderful construction.
Once the unclued down entry was discovered and the puzzle's title decoded the theme became clear.
I misinterpreted "successive" in the preamble, but when I was flummoxed as to how SIX DOUBLE clues could lead to FIVE thematic examples and a TWO-WORD description, I eventually had a PDM and all became clear, allowing me to reverse engineer the remaining double clues.
I also had a pleasant surprise when I came to highlighting — not called for in the preamble — the thematic entries.
Well done, Phi.

[Thanks, mattrom (#13), for your exposition on 14ac. This clue didn't really work for me. The BRB clearly states that "cattle" is a plural noun, so the word from which the "gathering" (new word to me) is to be removed doesn't really cut the mustard.
Conversely, my Classical background tells me that the 'Latin deity' in 11ac — part of a Roman double act — is, in fact, a plural noun so the surface reading of the clue is flawed.]

dsc (#30), if you have the correct unclued down entry, the preamble tells you that the five thematic example are of the same kind as it.

Jif73, the surface reading seemed fine to me, as on the surface it could be referring to any Latin deity.
The definition, and in particular the word play, yielded an acceptable answer. I could be missing the point you’re making though.

I agree on 14a but 11a is fine jif. The plural noun to which you refer forms no part of the answer.

SH, I don't see how you can say that the plural noun forms no part of the answer. The clue is either a double definition OR the first two words of the clue are the definition OR they are the word play.
Even if what you say were correct, the grammar of the surface reading — to which I was referring is wrong: It should be "Latin deities retreat...", but that messes the wordplay / second definition at the end of the clue.

Jif73, your option three is how I read it: An abbreviation and a proper noun.

First two words are wordplay, leading to one letter and 4 letters respectively. Last three are definition.

Ah... my bad. Sometimes, a LOT of knowledge is a dangerous thing. That explains why it's 'LATIN deity' and not 'ROMAN deity'.
Apologies to all concerned, especially Phi.

Ah... my bad. Sometimes, a LOT of knowledge is a dangerous thing. That explains why it's 'LATIN deity' and not 'ROMAN deity'.
Apologies to all concerned, especially Phi.

That's the beauty of cryptics isn't it? You get an idea in your head and you can't shake it even though it doesn't quite work. Happens to me all the time.

And as I said earlier in the thread, I fully agree with your view as to the excellence of the puzzle overall.