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That's exceptionally mean. I would have made it totally clear.
Just columns 4, 6, 9, 10, 12 to do now, though I do have a possible 4-letter word for col. 6.

Getting the thematic item from column 1 helped straighten things out. Dryden, I think 10 may be Vietnamese (3), 12 is British Isles (6)

I too have a full grid but no idea how to complete the puzzle. Could somebody tell me which columns the 9 letter words are in. Thanks

W

Apologies for previous comment - dodgy ipad!

I was trying to say that, as suggested, I've been looking for a long time for a 6 letter word in Col 12, referring to British Isles, to no avail. The only columns where I can find anything interesting are 2,3, and they don't actually relate to what I thought was the theme of the puzzle, exemplified in the unclued entries. A further nudge please.

There are 9 letter words in columns 1 and 2.

Dylan don't think specifically about place names because the new words are not geographical. As an extra nudge there is a huge significance in there being 13 columns. Think what that doubles to give you. The 9 letter word in column 1 starts at number 3. Brad fords crossword solver is invaluable in this puzzle once you have looked up the connecting word. Good luck.

Many thanks, unclued. All sorted now, and a very clever construction. I was misled by the word that can be formed at the top of col 3, but I should have seen the theme from the answer to col 2.

I wasn't bowled over by this at all. Pointer has set some excellent puzzles, but I think this is the weakest I can recall. Getting the theme is to some extent a matter of pure luck. One of the thematic words is very obscure and is not in my edition of Bradford's though it is in Chambers Crossword Lists.
Of the six final unclued entries there appears to be only one that might be said to describe all six, but it's semantically wrong, so I have doubts about it, but I cannot see what else it can be.

Dryden, after inadvertently misleading you yesterday (I misled myself for a little while with Nepal and Scotia !), I feel I should make amends. If you're unsure about the correct unclued entry to highlight, you may have the wrong one. Only 2 of the unclued entries are modified by the one-letter changes, this is one of them. Chambers defines it quite clearly and there is also a connection with the title.