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It's taken me until now to complete this brilliant puzzle. But although I have a full grid, the quotation, the speaker, the two paired items and their significance, and the deciphered two-word message, I can't see how complying with the last of these reveals anything.

Is there an outcome that constitutes a sentence? Does such a sequence of words immediately precede ('lead to') the quotation? Not in my copy of the work.

Also, I can't parse the longer word that is supposed to be clued by 26ac. This is a weakness in one sense, as it leaves me with a full solution but a missing bit of comprehension and appreciation.

But, my goodness, aren't those clues wonderful!

Saoralba, 26 intermediate is Lapse Rate, as in adiabatic...L with Separate

Meursault, many thanks. I thought L + separate must be the anagram fodder (having entered the truncated and treated version) but Chambers Anagrams was no help and I didn't want to trawl for all the possible combinations. The term is as arcane as I'd assumed.

Now, about that sequence of thematic words ...

This was an excellent puzzle with a nasty trap at the end, as there is a famous nine-word quotation (referring to heaven and earth) in the location hinted at by the four extra words, but this isn't the correct quotation to which the preamble leads. I'm impressed with how Artix managed to embed the correct quotation and the speaker in the grid, using appropriately thematic words. I can also see why the title "no offence" is relevant.

So congratulations to Artix for a complex and multi-layered, but always fair, puzzle.

I have the decoded instructions, and the extra words that pinpoint the source, but I can't work out what the exact quote is. Is this in O or H?

Sorry, but I'm still struggling to see a link between the two nautical answers, and the source of the quotation. Everything else is ready!

The full, astonishing significance of the two nine-letter words dawned on me suddenly at 4.37am. I couldn't get back to sleep for ages, wondering how on earth a setter would ever think of attempting such an audacious stunt.

Dylan, the nautical answers have a further name that connects them and partially reveals the thematic denouement.

I've enjoyed this so far, some interesting words and clues. With a full grid, I can deduce the 9-letter word from down discards, but have too many unknowns in across clues. I've assumed that 14 is derived from 24, 28 from 1, 32 from 34, and 33 from 10 - but haven't solved the intermediate forms of any of those answers. The missing intermediates, or just the letters discarded, would be very welcome.

Wonder if notanda is 14ac?

Not seems to mean shaven and a