Add a letter to each of the 8 strings to get a list of (topical) places.
Look carefully at the question numbers of these 8 clues, and this will give you an idea as to what is intended to go in the 2 answers.
I have the themeatic places from the strings and have the relevant letter for 16d but how do you decide between the 2 letters for 40a - neither is a real word??