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Hi S_Pugh,
This is a portion of comment 84 :
Now you need a cipher. In fact you already have one, which you've created by writing letters against numbers when you solved Grid A. See if the remaining 34 numbers from Grid A make any sensible words using the possibilities from this key. No ? I thought not...but now say to yourself, what similar key could I use ? Don't over-complicate it, just think of the most basic key along similar lines to the one which just failed (26 letters, 26 numbers).

The problem that I had was to stop thinking in terms of one-to-many relationships (as in telephone dial) and get back to one-to-one relationships. How you then deal with the ambiguities is your choice...

Haha Meusault - I'm glad I wasn't the only one transcribing the telephone dial keypad as an option! Still lost, surrounded by reams of paper and a dozen Excel spread sheets. I've tried A-Z, Z-A, B-A and any number of permutations. I did notice that HOTEL came up but led nowhere, despite it being a thematic object but apparently a red herring. Time to get a life and find my true level - it's the Sun crossword for me from now on!

Apologies Meursault - even dropped an R in my frazzled state!

S_Pugh, your thematic word is correct ! To match that with REJOB involves a very basic key, but using entries with different modulus after decimal division.

Apologies, that should read 'same modulus', ie same remainder, after division by an obvious number. Make a table of numbers against letters as you will have done for so many Listener puzzles. It will become clear.

I just hit refresh and saw your comment, moments after spotting a rather interesting trail of letters along the 'ground floor'. I think I will go for a lay down in a quiet darkened room before venturing further .....

Thanks for your nudge.

.... but of course curiosity killed the cat (amongst other allusions) so I am now minded to Heaven 17 and a certain US band. I can now find the darkened room of my choice and quietly curse Botox (or is it Poat by another name?). A bit like the Listener then, you can check out but you can never leave ....

Good luck all and thanks to all the helpful posters out there.

I put more hours into this than than any previous Listener - mainly in the small hours as my other half gets tetchy if I ignore her for too long during the day. A real slog but worth it in the end. I was pleased to see from this thread that others struggled too.
Nice touch omitting the unlucky room.

I've finished and everything makes sense, except that the bottom row seems to be telling me to do something, such as highlight something. Am I overlooking something?

There's no highlighting required in this one Orson, do you have a 9-letter word starting R on the ground floor ?