2343: Rats!

Round the perimeter clockwise is a 14-word quotation in ODQ, with its first word represented by a number in the grid. Other unclued lights are words of a kind (including four proper nouns and one of two words) which need treating before entry, as suggested by the final three words of the quotation. One of the treated entries is a proper noun. Elsewhere, ignore one accent.
 

Across

10    Outcast claims area back in scrap (6)
12    Second husband spread cloth (6)
13    End of trading in stingy part of Ireland (9)
15    Heat aggravated dry rot — it overwhelms one (9)
16    Criminal deed, sin despised once (7)
17    Film about the greatest festival (6)
24    Lady’s primarily expensive present (4)
25    Misfortunes, maybe high points in EastEnders (4)
30    Paints weird pastimes (8)
34    Antelopes and men passing through mounts (6)
35    Distracted, dissolute peer? Exactly! (7)
37    Has affairs, we’re told, getting disease (9)
39    Relive bad trips, it’s possible to infer (9)
40    Fast boat went in thus (6)
41    Change Luxembourg’s flag (6)
 

Down

2    Returning blows in fight (4)
3    Dogs wander between banks (8)
4    Physicist hasn’t the heart for hesitation (6)
5    Check John’s picked up papers, getting worried (8)
6    Kind of pop rebel in 1950s expressed feelings (6)
7    Complex ethics we’ll produce hardest to swallow? (8)
8    Incline to strip off sunglasses (4)
9    Writer’s yellow, clearly (6)
11    One lad suffering without swellings (6)
14    Acclaim tax-free scheme’s end (5)
17    Short dance record (4)
21    Apprentice’s monkey and dog (8)
22    It’s a shame a girl’s lost her footing (4)
23    Jazz singer’s broken head bones (8)
24    President gathers round display board (8)
28    Drink case of champagne in spring (6)
29    The French exam is most untimely (6)
31    Almost jump on boy, one going downhill fast (6)
32    Understanding current Japanese teacher (6)
36    Parliament’s to reduce intake (4)
38    City firm there in Rome (4)
 
A first prize of £30 for the first correct solution opened on 12 February. There are two runners-up prizes of £20. (UK solvers can choose to receive the latest edition of the Chambers dictionary instead of cash — ring the word ‘dictionary’.) Entries to: Crossword 2343, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.