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I thought Lennie > Lenzie

Unclued,

Yes, 40 ac requires a 'Z' as the correct letter, I think.

16 ac is COOF
31 ac is XNOR
41 ac is GENOESE
27 d is ZINCKED

I still don't get 13 d. And not sure of the wordplay of 23 d, so can't place the misprint.

13D (don)KEY = pitch
23D MLSERERE from (ho)MER + REELS

Ah, thanks Ollie

I thought 16 had to be COOF but I don't understand it. Is it one of the 13? And I still can't see the misprints (or wordplay) for GENOESE & ZINCKED. Thanks for the help on the others..

ZINKE is a word for an old instrument, the "cornett" (Zink in German) ; take the tune ("air") from tuned which gives you the "d" and add C to the middle. I assume "filed" should be "fired"?
"Geese" and "tubes" can both mean idiots : put "no" in the middle and you get Italian townies (though I think it should be "Genoesi").
I don't understand COOF yet. In fact I don't understand most of the downs in the left half of the puzzle, so any help appreciated.

I now see 27 and I think fired should be fixed, as one needs an x for the instruction.
The letters for the theme make no sense to me, and I have no idea how to perform the 'manipulation' required by the instruction.

COOF is just CO + OF (of = with) = goose of GaEl

. . or rather 'goose for GaEl'

Escuan, you have to get the theme before you attempt the manipulation. Perhaps you have an error in one or more of your 'correct' letters. There are two words to the theme, the first word being a name in it's possessive form. The second is a seven-letter common noun.
Once you have the theme you'll see the relevant 40 letters in the grid, but you'll need to carry out the manipulation to clear up some ambiguities in the highlighting. Applying the first three words of the instruction may not be immediately obvious.