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Light eventually dawned. An arcane subject as far as I am concerned but no doubt very familiar to many others. My closest brush with it or any of its adepts would probably have been a visit to Wadi Rum some years ago - I trust I make myself suitably obscure.

After a long struggle it turned out that I was very familiar with the theme. It is a feature of my Thursday afternoon's at Fakenham where I far too often make a mistake. A very clever construction.
One question concerns the three down answers with a thematic link. Is the third part of the name of an individual and the second concerned with an incoming Prime Minister - or have I missed something?

Thanks Mack. In your post 45, you say "If you know the theme.....", but I am not entirely sure I know what you mean by this. Do you mean the game itself, the word derived from the six thematic across clues, or the words derived from the down clues?

williamseal, the third is indeed the surname of an individual, the second a prefix. I assumed that the thematic link was simply that all three can be connected with the theme word. If there's anything more, it's escaped me.

I should have said 'what the theme is'. You can find the rectangles even with only a rudimentary knowledge of the game. Nor, in fact, do you need to know the word derived from the six across clues. The Wikipedia page on the latter is far too detailed for someone with no prior knowledge.

Thanks Mack - that's reassuring

Still totally baffled by the four rectangles. I can see four symmetrically disposed rectangles which contain the the letters representing the items referred to in the message from the down clues, but I could make them various sizes and I can see no logic which would lead to a total of 18 cells. I must be missing something which is obvious to someone familiar with the theme. Hint appreciated.

Sorry my previous posts have not helped. It's difficult to give much more help without giving the whole game away. However, I think you've identified the game concerned. It's played in two stages, and the rectangles concern the first part. The players are placed in the same position as are the rectangles. If you are looking at page 46 of the paper edition of The Times, there is an example of all of this.

Thanks Mack. I had, in fact, unwittingly identified the four rectangles without realising that they were what I was supposed to be looking for. I thought that there was some sort of representation of a "hand of four components" that I was supposed to be finding. I enjoyed the grid-fill for this puzzle, but not the end game. Thanks again.

Late start for me this week, but enjoyed that very much. Loose ends for me:

Don't understand the wordplay for 41a (am assuming there's an adjustment to word 4)

Don't understand the title

Don't understand two of the wordplay only answers. The first is obviously related to the theme. Can't see that the other two are unless I'm missing something?