Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Ah! Light bulb went on. It worked just as the setter informed. Well done, Charybdis.

Now does anyone know if Malone is ok?

I was thinking the same thing MPRS 🤞

Mathprof..., Brendan, thanks for wondering! I was out for an early dinner last night, so wasn't around to start the 'May Contain Answers...' thread. I don't mind who starts it, it's just good for it to be there!

loge, simplesimon - yes, I reached the same conclusion as you re the endgame although it hasn’t totally eliminated ...... in my head!

Isn’t it slightly odd that the other one changes as part of the first part of the endgame prior to the second step ( or have I gone awry somewhere)

CD - I agree with you.

My solution only worked if the steps are done in the reverse order, otherwise 36A becomes a non-word, either before or after the second step..

I suspect that this means I've substituted a different five-letter thematic from the correct one - and generated a non-solution which the second step is designed to disambiguate - so more checking needed on my part...

HELP! Full grid. Quotation found. Thematic eg found from down clues set. But what next? Should I be researching the principles of author of quotation? Or is that barking up wrong tree. Please send help!

Yes, I had some non-words after the first stage of the endgame too, which resolved itself after the second stage. This didn't worry me unduly as it doesn't contradict the penultimate sentence of the preamble.

fgsltw, have you literally applied the example to the across set of extra words?

Understood loge but did your first stage change one of the words that you used in the second stage?