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I've alerted Alan Connor of the error...

And do they really only want the eight words?

Can anyone put me out of my misery? I've come back to this today with a fresh head, which I'm still scratching....

I've got four 3x3s which seem fairly self-evident, but I just cannot understand the instructions. How can each 'cube' have 12 words - so 24 in total, 12 across, 12 down, but only 8 are required to be entered...

Following buzzybee's tips I get either

O -- A E -- A
-- -- -- or -- -- -- as the sandwich filler for the obvious 3x3s. Hmm...
I -- E K -- S

I've no idea what I am missing

Sorry, the formatting didn't work.

O - A
– – –
I – E

or

E – C
– – –
K – S

The way I pictured it is that each “cube” has a 3x3 top and a 3x3 bottom and four verticals pillars in the corners. The 4 pillars x2 give the 8 words.
Your O, A, I, E are correct.

Thanks Jono, I'm sure I'll get there in the end!

Jono, I owe you one. Thanks so much. Finally it makes sense

I still don't have the extra word leading to last 3 letters of 21d.

25a what is 'across Bass Strait' doing there?

Jono, I owe you one. Thanks so much.

Finally it makes sense. Doh! Double Doh!!

And 'sandwich' was staring me in the face all along when I was twisting my brain into 4 dimensions trying to make sense of the instructions.

Thanks Pangakapu, you devious b*****r

Sircrispin, glad I could help.

Ilippu, I matched the last 3 letters in 21d with the extra word from 17a.
Bass Strait is an indicator of the origin of the word.