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I am struggling with 1 across. No longer trust casual flattery in the New Yorker? Waste of time (4) Anyone else think this one is a bit of a stinker or is it just me??

(T)AFFY

This is a normal clue, it's an old word for 'trust'.
I agree it's on the tough end of the spectrum but the theme, which has been used more than once before I'm sure, runs through the whole puzzle: the two groups, the non-normal solutions, and the statement and author. It's really well constructed.

Apologies, if only a hint was required.

Good morning. I've just come back to this. Could anyone help with 30 down and 37 across please ? In spite of the help above, I still don't understand the rubric either !

30d is normal, double def. :abbreviated word for a 'finder' and another word for 'record'.
37a is thematic, you need to remove specific letters from a 2 word, 12-letter old African region.

Thanks for that, Muraria. Could you help with the rubric please?

It helps to line up the thematic entries in a list - the pattern becomes obvious very quickly.

Thanks drxx. I assume you mean the answers ?

Yes tonynannini - the ones that are entered thematically.

I found the example in the preamble confusing too, but it just describes how the sequence goes back to the beginning after each word has been plotted. The first word in the example given is 4 letters long, the sequence begins again for the next word, and so on.