Puzzle 55 - 15x15: It's Not Happening

Hello. For this, I want to set your expectations so low you have to bend your knees to reach them.

I'll explain dramatically and at length. This grid, like the one I posted last week, has 72 words, which is a little low for a themed puzzle. But unlike last time, I've had major trouble filling it. I could have restarted, and I should have moved around black squares, but I wanted a challenge and it seemed doable. Sorry in advance.

Here are the issues. Because the computer filler couldn't help with the middle right section, I had to fill it by hand, and put in some partial phrases ... and a weird abbreviation ... and a plural name. It's ugly but it holds together. The bigger problem is near the bottom, where the theme answers overlap more; there are some crossing proper nouns that I regret, though most squares should be inferable (maybe not the one with French - there, you should look it up if you don't know).

You might think that (mild spoiler) the Scrabbliness of the words hurt the overall fill, and that's possible in the NW specifically, but putting in all these rare letters was actually pretty accidental. Oh, also there are some words duplicated in the grid. But that fits right in with the structurally compromised fill. And, the theme clues are a little wordy, and possibly nonsensical.

Nevertheless I like the puzzle. And since I don't have an editor, I hope you like it too.

PUZ
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