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....and I've now discovered the original answer to 8 across. I was confused and thinking the original answer was the one in OED and so bypassed the obvious answer to the clue. I'd made the same mistake with 2 down.

Ok after much struggle I think Ive got it - except 2 dn but that shouldnt be a problem - but can anyone explain the title and any special reason for the theme? Is there a crunchy letter mix in the title I can't see ? Also is there any connection between the original answer and the final one ?

I think the title refers to the thematic items not conforming to gravity. There's no connection I can see between the original and final answers to the rogue clues. Wikipedia has an alphabetic list of cultivars.

Well the way the rogues are going is against the expectation of the theory named in the second part of the message. Remember the traditional story of how the person who discovered the theory thought of it.
The "original" of 2dn was revealed very early on in this thread but I am still puzzled by what the "originals" of 8dn, 16dn and 18dn were. Any hints would be welcomed for the sake of completeness.

I had OLINGOS for 18, but didn't bother solving the other two.

8dn is BRAMBLE (extra letter I) and 16dn is CLASSES (extra letter H). I still think the preamble was misleading in that it definitely implies that it was only in the non-rogue clues that the extra letter appeared in the wordplay. Otherwise why write "other" in the second sentence?

Thanks Meursault and Escuan. A shame, perhaps, that the extra letters in the "rogue" clues didn't spell the category of the "rogue" cultivars.