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The actual entries are real words but some of the crossers won't help because some of the words have to be changed according to the instruction spelt out by the extra letters

Thank you Prospero. So the change is more than the transposition I was suspecting from the conflict between 20D and 25A, but I'm not going to guess what it is from my nine letters! Oh well. This is plainly above my pay grade.

I can normally crack the Genius in a couple of days but this one is doing my head in! I understand the first bit of the instructions i.e. the extra letter but I still haven't cracked the other instruction re altering certain words before entry, despite having solved a number of clues. Am I right in thinking that the extra letters spell out a 7 word instruction?

Yes, the instruction is 7 words. I couldn't get it either - then I suddenly realised what it must be by trying to get 3d to fit ...

Would anyone like to set up an extra-difficult club? I know there are plenty of potential setters in this forum.

Well, there are already a decent number of difficult puzzles out there (the Genius, though I'll admit mine's on the harder end of the spectrum within them), the Inquisitor (in the i on Saturdays), the Enigmatic Variations (Telegraph weekly), Magpie magazine (monthly barred puzzles)...

I've finally cracked it! However the last word in the 7 word instruction re altering answers is one of my bug bears at supermarket check-out notices in that it is just plain wrong! Call me a pedant if you like.......

I'm going to make another attack on this tomorrow using the hints already supplied, although some of the clues do seem a bit too Wee Stinkerish to be soluble by the likes of me without the help of reliable crossers. But what I would like to say now is how wonderful I think it is to have Soup on here taking an interest in our struggles!

I hope you will forgive it; I only had a limited number of letters!

Glad you approve. I am relatively new to setting (have only been doing it about five years) so I am keen to see what my victims think - it will help me make future puzzles more enjoyable. Interested here in the number of comments about parsing on this one, so will look at that for the future.