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Finished - but only with a very great deal of help from my friends - I know I couldn't have completed it unaided in a million years.

I'm still struggling to understand the parsing of several clues, even after worrying-out a number of stinkers after being given the solutions - I really can't see the white war paint on the Florid gold vests...possibly the most Florid clue ever - and Snag? - how?? -why???
And I've become an expert on the selective filtration of ultra-wideband cellphone radio signals using notched microwave antennae...

This is quite certainly the most difficult crossword that I've ever attempted; and very possibly the most originally constructed, quite apart from the extraordinary - and necessary - complexity and inscrutability of the clues.

The mental genius required to design and execute such a wonderful construct is quite beyond my comprehension - I can only assume that Twin has engaged in a Faustian pact with the Cloven One - the format of the final solution that this particular collaboration leads to is certainly redolent of the banality of evil. I hope that the price is not too much to pay...
But glorious to contemplate, even if one couldn't achieve it other than as a lame dog.

Florid RED
Gold AU

Last letters of words 3-7 SR(T)EP



Then reverse the whole lot PE...UA...ER

snag is NOG

shift is VeER

I suspect some solvers are real fans of the activity at the end of this puzzle - I'm very much not one (especially when forced to participate in it while indulging in a pastime I usually enjoy).
Yes, it's a novel idea, and yes the clues are very cleverly constructed - in fact they're doing all of the heavy lifting as I see it - and even then there are random elements in the changes that make things quite a bit easier for the setter.
As for the grid transformation - I don't think a great deal of skill is required to achieve it, because there are none of the usual constraints setters have to deal with when filling/refilling a crossword grid (you just have to look at the last POTY by Shark or the latest Ifor Inquisitor for examples of that kind of skill).
I like the Marmite analogy but loving or hating the stuff doesn't make it an ingenious blend.

I've been thinking about this puzzle a lot since finally completing it yesterday. While I understand some of the complaints I am, overall, in awe at Twin's ingenuity. My only real niggle is a different one from anybody else's (at least, I don't think anyone has mentioned it): I think there are two potential solutions to the final endgame. The difference between them is trivial but it does feel like a flaw. The alternative possibility (probability?) is that I have simply made an error.

I've been thinking about this puzzle a lot since finally completing it yesterday. While I understand some of the complaints I am, overall, in awe at Twin's ingenuity. My only real niggle is a different one from anybody else's (at least, I don't think anyone has mentioned it): I think there are two potential solutions to the final endgame. The difference between them is trivial but it does feel like a flaw. The alternative possibility (probability?) is that I have simply made an error.

I am sure the solution is unique and it was a straightforward final solve requiring no advanced techniques.

I see this thread is still kicking, so here's my two cents

The good: the clues, the jigsaw puzzle gimmick, the alphabetical ordering of the clues (without which it really would have been an impossible solve for me)

The bad: the final endgame - I mean, if I really wanted to do one of those things, I would, right? In fact, I used to, years ago, but now I just find them dull. And it wasn't even a difficult one. Impressive construction? Maybe - I was more impressed by the construction of the numbers puzzle "Sequences" from a few weeks ago, and that one last year that turned into a chessboard

The ugly: the substitutions, some of which required counting a lot of letters and then double-checking to make sure I hadn't ballsed it up; and then it turned out the more tortuous ones were pointless anyway. Bah