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If, like me, you are in possession of an ODQ, you dislike detours, and you want to get this finished, my advice is as follows. To get the thematic PDM, don't bother with the "assistance" from the source indicated in the across clues' communal letters, or the one revealed by the down clues' communal letters, just look in the ODQ pages for 34 across. To be honest, I really enjoyed the clue solving and the grid fill, but had a bit of a "Meh" moment when I tracked down the theme. In fact, I really don't follow what the thematic reference is on about, but the word swapping and highlihting ARE obvious at the end, albeit, for me, a bit of a let-down. A great and enjoyable puzzle with a bit of a damp squib for an endgame. 8/10

How does 1a parse please?

Hi Bunty,
[army/supplicating]; AR (Army Regulation) in precious - Chambers gives an obsolete definition of supplicating.

Thank you ginge

I have looked through my OQD under the heading at 34 across but can't see anything which jumps out at me. It could be that I need a new edition (mine is the fifth edition). Any pointers would be welcome.

Guess I need to get myself an ODQ then.

Finished the grid and have the message and swapped the two words but can only guess at the final highlighting as can’t find the quote via Google.

candledave ...if you google the 1st person mentioned in the letters from the swapped clues and the left hand word (before you swapped it ) you should get very near the quote....

Thanks bunty.

Found it - really interesting and had guessed the right words to highlight!

Should have got there myself but wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for.

Have ordered my copy of ODQ anyway as been meaning to get one.

I have managed to fill the grid after a variety of methods, not going quite as far as Turast! I found it a bit of a grind, but had to admire the cleverness of many of the clues.

We had a forumite complaining about poor surface readings last week. I was amused at the bit in the preamble about the detriment to the surface readings in this puzzle. The original versions of the clues are so poor that it was hard to see how swapping two words could be a detriment - but it was!

Thanks to Jaques all the same. At least we can’t say ‘same old same old’!

Many thanks for your help Malone. That was a superb nudge in the right direction.