Guardian Genius 68

[bathtub]

I've been away from the site for a while, so please forgive me if this has been asked already. The preamble requires the 'six letter word in the middle row of the grid' to be changed in line with the first line of the thematic book title.

Am I being thick? (It's quite possible!) The middle row of the grid, horizontally and vertically, contains no words at all. So which clue is being referred to here? Any ideas?

[Quizmonster]

I don't know whether the preamble in the actual paper differed from the online version - which I do - but what you say above seems to have no connection with Genius 68 as I know it. That involved four consecutive absent letters in four solutions. Perhaps you mean 67 or 66 even, which I cannot now recall. Or perhaps I missed 69 altogether!

[Quizmonster]

Just checked...I had missed the latest Genius. So, thanks for reminding me and my apologies for being unable to help so far.

[bobshawaddy]

The six individual cells on the middle row make a word. To finalise the puzzle you change all those letters from what they currently are to what the first line of the work suggests - it's clear enough when you know what the work is - I won't spoil it for you - I found it by googling famous first lines.

Having made the change all the affected words are still real words - although some are a bit obscure.

Once you find the themed work it helps a lot, but I'm still struggling with a few clues.

[bathtub]

Thank you! I'd got as far as indentifying both title and first line, but for some reason I couldn't see the obvious. Sorry about the 68/69 confusion. Time for new specs... or possibly going to bed earlier would help!