

So, yeah, OTRANTO (and FLOR, but thumbs-up for theme ambition ( 46D: Italian city that is the title setting of a Walpole novel + 1D: Dona _ (1976 Sonia Braga role)).

The vast majority of answers in the grid TRANSECT theme material. All the fruits start at the top of their respective loops. I mean, he really sticks the landing here. But the theme is really tight and beautifully executed, and puts extraordinary demands on the fill, so.

Scads of crosswordy names, foreign words, Latinisms, a meeting of the ASSAYERs and IRONERS Union Local 3010, ODORIZE, and whatever ONE C is (I mean, really) ( 41D: Ten sawbucks). Now, the fill is not great, and by "not great" I mean decidedly below average.
