Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Thanks Matrom and Jono, all sorted now! 😊

Great puzzle - thanks Glyph. Kicking myself for not connecting the specific use of 7D sooner.

21D. Agree very much with Brendan. I concluded that the letter must come from the first word, ie the US spelling.

Must be the heat. I have filled the grid and found 30, 15, 7 but can't figure out the framework. Not sure if I want to say thanks or something rude!

Have you interpreted the extra letters and looked where the message tells you to look?

Not sure I have found all the extra letters. Fairly sure of first five.

Flame
The two locations referred to by the extra letters spell out two things. The first is a word; the second is not a word, but is the object given by that word. Try following from there - have been several useful posts.

I think I'm in a similar boat to Flame. I have completed the grid, decoded and understood the framework but can't figure out where to look for those seven cells that obey the rules of the framework. I can't find a "five letter framework word" anywhere else in the grid. I can't find those "five framework letters" in that order anywhere either. I have deduced the 15ac 30ac 7d and so can almost certainly submit but I could do with a hint as to where to look for those seven other cells. Even knowing the key sequence (if my hunch is correct) doesn't seem to provide me with a way to back-engineer their location. For example I have seen a suggestion that the ninth row is where to look for the first. Really!? How? If my hunch is right then the first key only appears four times in the grid – the first time in row ten.

tegumen
Not quite sure what you mean by "five framework letters", the ones shown in column one? They are only a partial representation of the framework (described by row one). There are additional framework letters in that column but not shown. They run, in alphabetical order, the length of the column.
If you write those out down ( or up) the column, then look across each row to see if any letters in the grid coincide with the letters in column one, the seven cells that "obey the rules of the framework" will be revealed.

Hi Muraria! Now I don't understand what you mean! There are only five letters in column one (i.e. the musical mnemonic). What do you mean by "there are additional framework letters in that column but not shown"? I assume you mean "A" and "C" but where do I put them?

tegumen,
The column represents a stave, which comprises letter ('keys') A to G so A comes between G and B, C between D and E in the column in the blacked out cells. Ignore the fact that some cells in column one are shown as letters and most blacked out, the 15 cells all individually represent a letter of the stave. The letters shown are simply a guide. Once you reach G the stave continues upwards with A to G again (or down, with F to A , then G etc again)