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Sorry if this sad news has already been posted.

http://bigdave44.com/2023/06/10/roger-squires-rufus-rip/

spolwr alert for my post... sorry

Thanks also ianwil that was news to me too. Though I'm still not really seeing how it fits in with 1a other than Paul just wanted to shoe horn it in there.

I generally found the magician quite easy but this was a tough puzzle from Paul and a fitting tribute.
FOI was 10a as I remembered it and hence realised the theme.
LOI 8d

COD has to be a tie between 16d or 17, 24.

Thanks again Paul.

I haven't got round to doing this yet, but a quick search of IMDB reveals that, in addition to his prolific crossword career, RS also appeared on Crossroads as Alf Tapper and on Hey Presto! It's Rolf and Crackerjack! as himself.

His Monday puzzles in The Guardian were such a great help to me when trying to improve my solving skills:-)

Congratulations on a fine result midweek Brendan.

Enough said for now but a pretty good achievement.

Thanks Rocky, it was sweet regardless of the 'tier':-)

FWIW, there is an annual Spooneristic gathering of those who create crosswords and those who write about them online, linking 1ac and 25 ac, At one such event (2011) the subject of today's prize performed magic, as he did thousands of times in creating crosswords.

Agreed 1a was a bit weak, but in addition to the "magical" reference, the clue is a dd, which was one of the subject's trademarks. I also found 6 difficult to parse, though the solution was clear, though dependent on GK I had to look up.

I thank Paul again for a thoughtful puzzle. I had to wonder if he had it composed ahead of time. Or perhaps news of the subject's passing was disseminated privately.

Thanks to Jazzgirl, who told me who had died. I used to like Rufus as his crosswords were more accessible to me. You may be interested to know that I went down an entirely different rabbit hole thinking 23d was Rebus, even though it didn't parse, and checking out all of Ian Rankin's books. Now I'll have to think again.

I've done a few, but I'll be back for hints later.

roof
I did think of Rebus, but he was a character rather than an author. I then thought "surely not Remus?"