Very good theme density in the puzzle; I don't think the asterisks are necessary, but that's your call! That said, I would definitely annotate two-word clues like 1A as (5,4) rather than (9); I was confused for a bit. (Even if you don't include enumerations, generally something like (two wds.) is included.)
Very nice, clean surfaces throughout, though I still think there are too many hiddens/straight deletions for my tastes, and I would in general try to avoid three letter anagrams (though 9A reads really nicely).
I really adored 16A, that great ? definition holds the whole thing together; I think you've got great indicators in stuff like 5D and 17D (that latter clue is my only hesitation with 3D, which uses CAP). The only clue you might revise is 15D, as it breaks down as [Mete] = Definition, [in] = connector, [the middle for] = hidden indicator, [a legal lottery] = hidden fodder, except the "a" is extraneous and should be deleted.