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I think you're right Darla, I had thought draw as in draw string but your parsing makes much more sense.

Thanks Brandan, makes sense now. I guessed that only place that the replacement letter could go was in gal but didn't make the final link.

No problem, thanks Raggedy:-)

Coincidentally, in relation to 14d, it's also in another crossword in Saturday's paper.

Thanks people, all makes sense now

A very enjoyable puzzle. I started looking for forenames at the top and confidently drew a curve through four touching cells to spell one of the names. I found the same name again at the bottom. It is obvious which is intended to be the right answer, but is the upper one definitely wrong. The preamble does not specify in a straight line for this particular instruction. I could easily have moved on thinking I had finished without seeing the other example of the name.

Good spot, Smithsax. As you say, there is nothing in the preamble and there is no requirement for the highlighting to be symmetrical, so I think it must be an acceptable solution. I suspect the setter and editors didn't spot this or, if they did, that they thought it unnecessary to be too specific in the instructions.

Really enjoyed this one. Managed to complete the grid without any idea of the theme. A couple of minutes grid staring revealed a name quite quickly, and the second less common one followed shortly after. From there it was all fairly straightforward.

Hats off to the setter for a very enjoyable and elegant puzzle. Particularly liked the jumbled words theme and extra letters forming the motif. Very well done that.