Enigmatic Variations No.1318 – Six Authors in Search of a Character by Ifor

“The perimeter contains the surnames of SIX AUTHORS, reading clockwise from top left and referred to as 1 to 6 in that order in the six blocks. Solvers IN SEARCH OF A CHARACTER (or pair of characters) to be written in the vacant cell in each block will find them appearing in no particular order in the six shaded cells. Each BLOCK RECIPE DIFFERS, as the unchecked perimeter letters spell out. All clues contain an extra letter, to be removed before solving and always leaving a real word; when read in clue order these will assist. Numbers in brackets give cells available; the Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

I enjoyed the challenge of this puzzle – although whether I’d be saying that if it had stumped me, I don’t know! Some of the clues – for example, 15, 24, and 26 across – was rather tricksy. In any case, the thematic action was, I thought, neat.

The extra letters spell TITLE FROM WRITER IS WORDPLAY TO CELL CONTENT.

In order, the authors are:
R.C. SHERRIFF, whose ‘Journey’s End’ clues Y,
Joseph CONRAD, whose ‘Heart of Darkness’ clues KN,
John STEINBECK, whose ‘East of Eden’ clues N,
Charles KINGSLEY, whose ‘Westward Ho!’ clues OH,
Ian FLEMING, whose ‘Doctor No’ clues ON, and
James Fenimore COOPER, whose ‘The Last of the Mohicans’ clues S.

Note
10dn included a misprint that gave the length as 6.

Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
STATE = letter to be removed before solving
DUNT = character(s) in shaded cell

Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.