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The '39' does look like a mistake then, doesn't it.

Other thing I don't get is how are we to be expected to look for the acrostic, since there's zero to suggest it? Just blindly give it a shot, since sometimes puzzles use the device?

So a trivial gridfill followed by blind guessing and a mistake in the instructions. Seems a pretty unsatisfactory puzzle all round.

Whilst it is true that the gridfill in this was at the easier end of the inquisitor scale, I am often amazed at the things other people on this forum can see in the clues that initially I cannot. Sometimes it is multiple letters in one cell, sometimes required knowledge of old TV sketches that I have never heard of, and sometimes acrostics. Although frustrating, they add up to the richness of the inquisitor experience and are the reason I look forward to it every week.

But there does appear to be a mismatch here between the preamble and the acrostic here that could easily have been sorted out pre-publication.

tomsdad - I share your amazement every week. I didn't even know there was an acrostic to look for! I only have the two places and what connects them.

The cells of the two places and what joins them add up to 39 for me.

so, please, where is the instruction?

Nelson, the first letters of the clues...

Nelson, first letters of clues. Teenieleeks, what about the agent mentioned in the preamble?

Oops.....forgot about that.

I wonder if the C-word is the 'object' and the T-word is the 'agent'? (I don't think it's great, but if I put them together (T+C) as the object, then there doesn't appear to be an agent.

I knew where the message was likely to be - it's been there in previous Chalicea puzzles - but I feel some sort of indication might have been fairer.

Could it be the other way round Malone? Object meaning where they're aiming for i.e transatlantic and agent being the means of sending the message. Whichever, it's a bit iffy.

I spent ages looking in the grid for the message "eastern" letters of answers, across answers etc. I'll know next time.