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Finding today's pretty frustrating - solved all but one clue, all the unclued entries seemingly nonsense, and can't make sense of the instruction.

Could I check one or more of the following:
- I thought I had 5d, with extra letter R, is this incorrect
- a hint for 12ac, which has no fits in Chambers
- is the unclued entry containing 32 a relevant game, or also gibberish?

I will say in the puzzle's favour though, I am very pleased to see a symmetrical grid again after rather missing them for the last couple of weeks

5d, extra is not an R

12a, alternate spelling is in Chambers, usual letter for hospital inside Sweden (abbr) + talk rubbish reversed.

32 is the one of three actual words or phrases among all the shadeds, and is a game.

Being rather unfamiliar with the theme, a lot of checking Wikipedia to complete the grid,

Thanks for the quick reply, buddy.

I think this means I have to replace the 'T' from 8d with a 'G' for some reason. Not yet sure how the last 3 letters relate.

May have to knock this on the head as I can't see where to start with the shaded entries, even with the 4 letters apparent (I thought there'd be five).

I’m way behind you cruciluci and need help with 30a please: law catalogue reduced total number of words (6) I have ??E?IS

This is one of the entries altered by the instruction. The definition is "total number of words".
It's a short Latin word for "law", followed by the first 3 letters of a 4-letter word meaning "catalogue" (but removing the first letter of the catalogue as the extra)

Thank you. So far so good but no idea about the silvered cells yet

The penny dropped for me when I was trying to sleep at 3am - would have gotten it much faster if I'd been confident to actually write in the grid.

Still missing a couple, though, and can't find the G from 8 down.

Cruciluci I too was awake at 3.00 am but no penny dropped for me as I have not got all the letters needed for the instruction. So could you help with two more?
8d: CIA perhaps brought up characteristic sound that is special (6). I have ???IES.
28d: Long distance race to finish abruptly beside river in Iberia (6). I (only) have ????R?

Cruciluci, the first 3 letters of 8d (plus the surplus g) are clued by words 3-6 of the clue.
Jogamel, the wordplay to 28d is a curtailed 3-letter word for finish plus a 5-letter Iberian river noted for wine production, minus the second letter which you presumably know. The answer is a race.
I needed Wiki and some reverse engineering to fill the unclued entries. Some of them were a bit of a stretch imo but satisfying in the end.