Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

I have a full grid and the two protagonists and the code words, but am mystified by the highlighting of the animal. If it is the 3-letter animal associated with one protagonist that is pretty feeble! Am I overlooking something deeper?

That’s what I went for s_pugh

I have the first 3 extra letters of the down clues as INE, surely that is wrong?

They are correct.

The first message carries over into the down clues.

Thanks for clarifying that as the final "word" of the across clues had confused me - but I'm still confused, but let me sleep on it because I need to watch the snooker!

Surely the confederacy

............. is CSA

Yes, that's correct, Gitto

Sorry Gitto a typo on that post earlier

I agree with others that this was a good puzzle with a neat endgame. Thanks to Meursault for the link to the Playfair solver, certainly helpful given that there were only four fully encoded digraph in the puzzle (Azed normally has at least eight).

Just to put me out of my misery, would someone explain the wordplay for the unstarred clue at 7d? The answer has already been confirmed on the forum as KRONE, and the extra letter is, I think, O. I have everything else.