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Have a full grid,all abbreviations I think,but as noone has mentioned the two letters in a cell in 10d I must be missing something

The two letters in a cell in 10d will make sense when you draw the shapes.

Belatedly popping back to say following my request at 23 and JamesM's kind response at 24 I came back to stare at the grid after a couple of days and... lo and behold a penny dropped. Turns out it very much depended on the exact combination of words I chose to google. Very sneaky, Shackleton!

At post 66, Gitto refers to the letter count of clues containing extra words. I agree with his letter count for the across clues, but I cannot get 66 for the downs. I actually have six extra words in the down clues, so I must have two too many. However, no matter which four I choose I cannot arrive at a total of 66. Is 66 correct?

0pt0 - the number count for the four down clues with extra words is 63.

Thanks Will37.

I have a full grid, the protagonists, the instruction, the descriptions of the shapes, the locations of the eight 2 x 2 blocks and the seven large letters and yet I cannot fathom the end game, despite trying to apply Jamesm's suggestion at # 24. I must be missing something obvious. Hint appreciated.

At the same stage. And time is running out, what with the Six Nations weekend almost upon us.

Hoping (rather than expecting) inspiration will strike.

0pt0, if I have understood you correctly, you have done everything except identify the cell with the right abbreviation, carry out the revealed instruction and draw the shapes. There is only one cell that makes a word or name when combined with the seven large letters. There are two obvious ways of carrying out the instruction and one of them resolves the unusual cell in 10 down. The shapes (or lines) make an object related to the work's title. If you can't identify the work, try googling the two protagonists and the title of the puzzle.
And that, unless I too am missing something, is it.

I’ve agonised all week about whether the first big letter is M or FR. I can make a case for both. Is the F person looking through the glasses at M? Or are the glasses worn by FR?

Wikipedia seems to have become the source of truth (!!) for thematic explanations and the entry for the story doesn’t mention the M person at all - so the only way of knowing she is part of the story is to read the thing. Surely that’s a stretch too far for such a minor and little-known work?