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Planks, they are in English and you don't need any classical knowledge. You need to work out the alphanumerical difference between each letter of the answer and the corresponding letter of the entry. You'll have a few gaps from the unchecked letters in the entries. I used a wordfinder to find potential words that fit the pattern; there aren't many possibilities in each case and you should notice that there's one possibility from each word that belongs to a group.

Thanks loge, I'm working them out now, and understand the hint, but can only assume the significance is something erudite, to do with the writer's other works.

I really thought I’d cracked the thematics with 37, from gitto’s tip at #41. I know the answer to 37. I’m pretty sure about the last three letters of the thematic item, it’s a ‘two part’ word right? But can’t get the first six letters to work. I have the plural at 24d ending I, and I have an N at end of 31d. Nothing seems to fit when coded.
Also can someone clarify what exactly the OX UNDER LORRY are!

Thanks Candledave, I don't think you necessarily overstepped the mark but I gather that nudges and hints are just what is needed.

Not controversy, Planks, just friendly discussion on the best way to be fair to everyone, said with a smile.

Lumen. Your I and N are correct. The thematic items are similar to what (I think) you have… not as friendly. Be careful with the thematic at 4a which is probably what led you to the friendlier version.

Perhaps a good idea Loge to have a HINTS TO THE THEME thread but it would need to take the place of the other Listener thread, which so far has only 6 posts this week, we can't have 3 threads on the one Crossword albeit that it is a difficult one. Perhaps a possibility?

If THEME is mentioned in the heading, then you know that you enter at your peril.

OX UNDER LORRY represents a potential anagram of the unches in the thematic items… pre coding. (I made a right pig’s ear of this initially and totally over complicated it!)

Malone, my difficulty is that it's all a foreign language to me so it's difficult for me to know how far the help should go, I'll stick to my knitting and crochet - I understand that, ha, ha.

I've emailed you.

Those two letters are correct, Lumen. And yes, it's a two-part word. Perhaps you've miscounted when doing the alphanumeric calculations? Easily done. And don't forget both the answer and entry go from right to left: I made that mistake.

Planks, I get the impression nobody has the actual connection between the thematic items and the writer, although as Gitto said earlier, the items are confirmed by the hint from the extra letters.