Has anyone managed to decipher the first five sentences of the preamble? I imagine you need AI to interpret what on earth the setter means. It undoubtedly has nothing to do with cosmology, but that is what the theme indicates. The sixth sentence mentions the grid orientation, one of four possibilities; tossing a coin would be as good as any of finding the correct position. The numbered clues are doable, but even when all of these are written in, no help to complete is forthcoming. I object to crosswords being compiled with instructions so esoteric that most of the solving time is wasted.
Any enlightenment will be absorbed with grand curiosity.