Spitting Straight Fire: Loplop Cryptic #008 [15×]

A themed puzzle this time! Themes are tricky to execute in cryptics (not to mention that this is my first themed puzzle), so I’m pleased with how this turned out. I don’t think the theme drives up the difficulty of the puzzle — and in fact, may make it somewhat easier…? But anyways, you’ll have to solve the puzzle to find out more!

Huge thanks to The Rackenfracker for being the sounding board for this theme, as well as Andy Lim, Dave (a.k.a. dritters) and Michael Colella for the test solves — everyone involved has made measurable improvements to the puzzle. I hope you enjoy!

Instructions: While constructing this puzzle, five entries proved just too hot to handle! These entries have been clued with wordplay only.

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