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Even with the hint, I'm lost, I can't see any "feature" shared by LABOR and, say, 1a and 5a, much less every grid entry. How does the lack of a "U" matter?

1 down, that is....

Buddy, my observation, at #8 was much more relevant than I realised.

Buddy, it's all about how the vowels and consonants are placed in words...

Good grief. I was looking for something a little more meaningful/less arbitrary. Thanks.

I totally sympathise! I looked for something more sophisticated too but for once a grid stare helped me out...

That's a little unfair on the setter surely? Writing all those very sophisticated clues!

Indeed, many sophisticated clues in service of a trivial theme. But, I got to write an Excel macro to skim the clues and pick out the relevant letters, so that was fun.

Is it so trivial? I thought burying the second message and reference in such well constructed clues and creating the highlighting was a work of art. I understand buddy’s frustration at not seeing it, but I don’t think the puzzle deserves to be rubbished for that

Not rubbishing the puzzle's construction at all - a tour de force. The theme is not exactly earth-shaking, that's all.