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Just had a thought! If you write the H of SPLASH in the bottom left corner of the cell, the A of OUTLEARN in the top right corner of the cell and then write RE diagonally, you can draw a line through HARE. Sorted!

....perhaps not. I've just seen that the same thing can be done lower down the grid!

Nice try, Unclued, however if we were supposed to draw a line, it would probably say 'delineate' not 'highlight'. 'Highlight' typically means to shade in the cell or otherwise emulate a highlighter.

However if your idea is right, then the letters to arrange are the H and A in arcHAean and the ER to the left of that A. In that case they are in the SEARCH AREA unlike the HARE you found.

I would have thought the instructions would have required a specific colour.

There are enough red herrings (pun intended) in this thing...

I think that between us buzzb and I have come up with a feasible solution. I think you can still highlight across the letters (in the same way as if the preamble were highlighted). As I said earlier I would not recommend sending this one in

I am inclined to agree with mama72. If 'lift' is cut on three edges and folded up, or down, the item appears in a straight line, albeit with a gap, but there is also a gap in the other way. What if both ways were highlighted? Would that constitute an incorrect entry? There is 'mara' in the area, but it includes a clash.

I think that unclued's suggestion is ruled out by the explicit instruction that clashes must be entered side by side. Poat is too smart for us!

Some contributors on the Other Site are adamant that the solution is unequivocal. Many of these ideas are ingenious but I can't shake the feeling that there's something more definite.

Heisenberg, I agree - it's really confusing me, but a puzzle that's been this well designed surely has to have a proper ending. And given the theme (including the two redundant messages) it's no surprise that there are apparently multiple red herrings - or at least, I assume that's what they are - indeed, we've been told to expect them.

I'll keep on scratching my head...

There are certainly red herrings, which multiply the longer you keep staring. Close by the thematic village, for example, are the de Grey Mausoleum (but only de Greys are buried there) and the village of Flitton (an anagram of NOTLIFT, but that has 7 letters and there's no anagrind for it).

Some of the successful solvers on AB are a bit patronising, aren't they? Why is it that their intellects should be superior to ours? Surely the odds would suggest that one of us at least ought to have cracked it. Not that I'm saying they haven't, of course.