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Filled the grid without too much difficulty, and discovered the instruction. However it seems open to at least 2, perhaps 3, interpretations. Has anyone got this far and discovered the right way forward? Life is too short to sit down and plough through all the possibilities.

I'm at the same place as you, cockie. Do you think there are 12 letters referred to and they make an inverted V shape? What do you think repeat means? Life is far too short.

The implication is that the operation carried out initially is "repeated". Does that mean only further outward, or does the LH letter (say) influence in both directions, as happened in the first iteration. I don't see how a message can be discovered if the inverted V is all that is going to emerge.

Is no-one else mystified by this? It's unusually quiet for an EV thread, especially when the grid-fill has been fairly straightforward. If anyone has worked out how to interpret the final step a hint would be much appreciated!

I'd love to join chat, but unfortunately haven't got as far as the message. My first extra letters are A, C, Z and Y and I can't get any sensible word from rolling totals. Where have I erred??

A. A+C=D. D+Z=D. So the message starts ADD

Assuming 'add' means 'take the value of the circled letter based on its position in the alphabet' (which is reasonable based on the work that has preceded the discovery of this instruction) and then add it to the values in the cells indicated translating the resultant sums back into letters via modulus 26 - then what does 'repeat' mean? As Cockie says it is open to many different interpretations. All very vague! My best bet is that you have to carry out a cascading series of additions replacing the 'alphabetical values' in the target cells until you get to the bottom of the grid - and then apply modulus 26 to discover resultant letters. But then shouldn't the instruction indicate the repetition is multiple rather than singular? And if so is it the valued of the circled letter that is added or the running totals as you travel down the cascade?

That's right - it's a cascade, which will seem appropriate once you have the aphorism.
It's the running totals that are added.
So line one has just the circled letter, say A.
Line two has two letters changed. If they are both As to begin with, they both become B.
Line three has three letters changed. If they all start as A, the left and right become C (A + B), and the middle one becomes D (B + B).
Any mistakes will multiply rapidly and produce gibberish, as I can attest.

Hi mistersting

I don't quite understand- how do you know which 3 cells to choose in line 3 and 4 in line 4?

I presume you just choose the diagonals under the circled letter in line 2?

Thanks for your help

Sorry - *that* is gibberish, or rather wrong.
The middle of line three would be E = B + B + A
Line one: A
Line two: B, B
Line three: A, E, A