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Then perhaps as a layman I got lucky, foinaven. Yes, your entity is one word, not two. The author has an initial, if that helps.

Foinaven - yes you have made an error. Look again at the three letters in your penultimate word.

Thanks, Smithsax. I had a plausible hardliner (the GDR, yielding a G) but clearly not the right one. And I did have the correct author, but perhaps the wrong work. So now there is no excuse.

Thanks for the hints - I did in fact have the correct author but the wrong piece and it was not at all clear what to do. Thanks also to the setter for a clever grid.

Ppp44 - I would say this is about average difficulty. Last weeks was at the very easiest end, if you have access to that. You need a copy of the Chambers dictionary as many listener answers aren't in other dictionaries. Either the big hard copy or the excellent app (which I would highly recommend).

I found the top left corner the best way in. Maybe 1d, 2d, 3d, 12a, 21a

Ppp44 - I echo what smellyharry said - last week’s puzzle was a very good one to get started and the Chambers app is invaluable. Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary is also well worth buying. I used both a fair bit on this puzzle. FWIW, I thought the easier clues on this puzzle were 46A, 49A, 50A, 51A, 8D, 33D, 37D and 41D. Let us know if you want any hints.

Interestingly contrary to smellyharry's experience I was making short work of this puzzle until I got to the top left corner. With everything else filled in that darned corner took me nearly an entire day on its own. Different brains work differently I suppose.

Either way I am finished now with quite a few clues that I don't fully understand. I think it's the most I've had at the end of a puzzle in recent memory. Fortunately the endgame leaves little room for doubt that the majority of my grid is right. So I will take that as a win.

I have a complete grid and have resolved the endgame which I found enjoyable (thank you Vainglorious). Frustratingly, although I don't "need" to know it, I have no idea what the answer to 5d was/is: Tanner to pitch up with roulade (8). A nudge with the parsing might help me back calculate it.

Espebe, 5d. def. is 'tanner', sixpence. 'Pitch' (3) reversed, + 'roulade' (bird song)

Mattrom, thank you! All sorted.