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I have finished the crossword and have the letters arranged in a Playfair square but have no idea what to do next. Any help?

Oops, the penny is dropping!

I've managed to make a twelve-letter word out of the Playfair jumble but only by assuming that that the 6th letter should be Y and not X, but I could have constructed the square wrongly.

Having written that I can now see that I've entered Y twice in the square! Back to the drawing board.

If you've solved the crossword correctly, you should have 13 letters that were omitted from the across clues. If you write each letter at the end of the across rows you'll have a three word phrase reading downwards. Enter this into a Playfair square following the instructions given. Use this to uncode the pairs of letters given - this should give you a seasonal word (think Cliff Richards and Eurovision Song contest!). That's the easy bit done! Now you have to think of a suitable (winning) cryptic clue of Azed standard - good luck!

Thanks. Got it eventually.

I have been away and cannot find the clues online although the grid seems to be available. If there are any clues I would be very much obliged if a fellow solver could send me a copy, with the instructions, to fleetj@btinternet.com.
With many thanks and seasons greetings to all contributors.

https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2016/12/17/2,324_Dec18.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2016/dec/18/azed-crossword-2324


Can you click on the sentence below the grid?