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Thanks, but you didn't confuse me at all. I can't think of a word or phrase for 11A, which gives a bird starting with an "e" at the clash.

Remember Rod Hull?

Lumme! Is "leme" a word? Thanks.

Hi TonyNannini, there is a hint for this one in post 20 of this thread, if that helps.

Thanks Planks. Just didn't realise that the final entry was a word. Chambers confirms it as an alternative spelling.

I’m down to my last two and have been scratching my head all morning. A strong nudge on 17a and 12a would be much appreciated.

Pretty sure I know what the curtailed entry for 17a should be but need the full version... how many letters is it? I’ve looked at so many combinations of thematic Rs to slot in here but nothing fits.

Bradford’s is teasing me with possibilities for 12a but I’m struggling to parse any of them and hit my thematic B.

Thanks in advance

Curtailed entry for 17a is hyphenated if that helps confirm. Original word is 7 letters and def is last 5 words - the English spelling would be 8 letters .....

12a def is last word. Standard abbreviation for area in fairly usual horses.

Hallelujah... and breathe. Thanks s_pugh. Somehow between last night and this morning I seemed to have forgotten that I’d need to remove the crossing clash before solving. Doh! You wouldn’t believe how many words fit dr*ing. That’s a lengthy wrong path I don’t wish to revisit. Thanks again

I’m just about there but have realised I haven’t filled in 10 down ?UIT. I have no idea what the clue is about. Also (possibly linked to that) I haven’t got the bird linked to the second A of the creator.
Finally I would assume there will be a total of four blanks once IRIS has been moved to replace GRIP.

Hi Unclued.
I thought 10 was quite difficult also. I was trying for some time to find the actual name of an artist (?UIT). But when I had only 2 or 3 letters of the playwright left to find, and one of them had to be an 'I', I realised that 10 is not a name, but a general term for a painter belonging to a certain school. 4-letter bird.
The 2nd A is an anagram of octave.
Yes, the final grid has 4 empty cells.