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Thanks CD, I'll give that a go:-)

thanks h1982 - i wish i could help with gridding but nothing has clicked in terms of a method. i seemed to have forced the answers in, but have v. little confidence, am redoing with something more systematic.

i also need to find this quotation - the person seems to have lots of quotes but cannot find anything he shared.

I've got the theme, I have a filled grid, I'm 100% confident I've understood what's going on with the entries that are too short for their spaces, but I have no idea how the too long entries relate to the theme. Is there something cleverer than 'multiple letters in a cell' going on there?

Re the grid (h1982 and others):

Much of the grid can be filled in from the entry lengths and the 90-degree symmetry. For example, top line has a bar between the 9th and 10th cells. Similarly, the bottom line has one between the 5th and 6th. Symmetry tells us that the first column has a bar between 5th and 6th and the last column has one between 9th and 10th.

You can cross-reference the down clue lengths with the likely row split (where there is little choice, making it a bit less difficult) to add at least some bars to a few more rows and columns. The order of the down clues should help you fix the row split.

There will likely still be a few grid ambiguities, but when you pencil in the clue answers, you should start to see what's going on.

i hope that that helps.

@twelvetree, the quotation explains it all.

Thanks RHSL - the quotation does explain it all, provided you pick the right quotation! I'd gone for the one hinted at by the title, which (sort of) explains the treatment of the short answers. All is now clear, a fine puzzle, and thanks for the assist in making sense of it all!

I have a full grid, the 3 word phrase, the co-writer given by the extra clues but I cannot make any sense of the final step (i.e. adding the letters together). I've tried it in both possible directions and nothing but nonsense appears. I there a hidden reference to the relevant quotation somewhere? because I cannot find it.

gitto - the quotation is in ODQ

If you don't have that, read the changed cells from top to bottom may help and then use google

Thanks for the offer, Gitto, but I think I will soldier on a bit longer on my own! I must focus on the downs.

Foinaven, if you need help its andywishart@sky.com, not what I posted earlier.

CD, I don't have the ODQ, and if you mean the 12 symmetrical cells from top to bottom, that too gives me nonsense.