I can no longer judge if mine are hard or not. I originally was not going to include the asterisks for the themers but that'd make this too difficult. Now I hope it is hard but getable. This came to me when one of us asked "How to you spell.... " and it didn't look right.
(Okay, I realized the grid was kind of hard so I redid many of the clues. There is one hard section and I fully expect you'll need to google 8D)
Hey Cool! I just realized I can take people on and off the leader board by retro-actively removing a solution. So there is a "pageant" solution. For the first day, I was accepting it with a warning to try for the "real" solution. Then I changed it so only the "real" solution would be accept. Now the pageant solution is [not] accepted. But after tomorrow? Who knows.
Anyway.... Nudges:
The five themers are marked with asterisks. Knowing that they are themers will lead to the pageant answer very quickly.
But why are they themers, and what is the real answer?
How many basic tastes are there?
Five basic tastes and five themers. Can't be a coincidence.
Okay, are there any where else in the puzzle that seem to be related to the five themers/five basic tastes?
As always, is there anything weirdly stately? Awkward worded clues, for example. They are there for a reason.
Don't anagram. Use the order of the themers.