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Hats off to those that completed this unassisted - weeks like this make me realise the range of difficulty of the listeners and also the invaluable resource that this forum is - it has helped me to limp to the end and fall over the finish line!

A beautiful tribute which brought tears to my eyes. So glad I kept going, and had the support of this forum.

I can understand why the editors wanted to publish it. They would be churlish to disallow it. But surely they could have made some of the clues just a tiny bit more straightforward, and most importantly they should have given more help to new solvers in finding the theme.

Rad, I understand how you feel but I am sure the editors do not want to routinely give enough help for new solvers...otherwise experienced solvers would not get the challenge they want and expect from the Listener. It's supposed to be hard and occasionally very hard...that's why we keep coming back.

Loge, thanks for your help (once again). My choice of thematic words for 4 across was not between the two with differing fifth letters. I had a further alternative with differing second, and sixth letters. I also used an alternative thematic word for 25 down with a differing initial letter which does not appear in OX UNDER LORRY. In addition, I made a childish error with 36 up, giving me two more letters which do not appear in OX.... etc. These errors (the result of brain-fade after a very long slog on this one) led me to believe that some form of coding was required with OX......etc. The penny has now finally dropped and all is clear. Thanks again.

0pt0, I'm guessing your alternative for 4 across thematic was a word associated with a branch of the military? I considered this too, having some vague notion that it was a type of thematic object. It's not supported by Chambers (that I can see) but we have had puzzles where specific thematic examples can only be found online. A quite understandable assumption to make, therefore (if I'm right about the word you had)!

Crept over the line finally. Very tricky, but the clues, on reflection, we’re actually fair. Never encountered the person concerned or his 19 “outputs”. Nice gesture by Gorrag.
For those about to give up, the way in we found was via 37 perimeter and reverse engineering the clashes to yield the first thematic item. Hard but satisfying, thanks Gorrag

Am I totally up the creek in thinking that the writer being celebrated is NH?

“Were” not “we’re “, bl***y autocorrect.
The writer is not NH. We thought it was a possibility for a time.

A real sense of achievement on finishing this. I accept that sometimes we need to cold solve a few answers and look for possibilities. The breakthrough for me came in having enough misplaced letters to inform some googling. This really helped unlock the perimeter answers. Difficult but rewarding puzzle! Thanks Gorrag.

Simplesimon - If NH are the initials then you are looking at the wrong writer. You may need to play with the positions of the additional letters in the grid.