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I was "Born to Be Wild", but now I do the EV crossword instead. Get your motor running...

?
Turast ....can you explain what the preamble .... " The letters given by adding that word’s initial letter to the initial letter of the answer spell an instruction (A = 1,27; B = 2,28 etc)"... means ?

E.g ...extra word in 12a is Indies ...answer begins with E ...where do the numbers come in ?

If you convert all the letters in the alphabet 1-26

A being 1 Z 26

E is 5
Plus
I is 9

Gives 14

The 14th letter in alphabet is N so that is the letter needed for the instruction.

If your answer adds up to more than 26 you just start again at A as 27 until you get to the relevant letter

Xwordfan, if the extra word in a clue is Banana, that gives you 2 (A= I, B = 2...) . If the answer is Fruit, then add the initial letter of that, F/6. You'll have 8 so change it to H. If you do that for all the relevant clues, a message will result.

Thank you djawhufc and Malone for making things clear!

stuck in the NE corner:
(The clue either has an extra word in it or the wordplay is missing a letter)
7d Race fixing at Belmont revealing nothing for lucky women (7) SH?????
14a Stripper, pretentious out of uniform, turning round on cruise ship (9) ?E????L??
26a A mark like some symbols (5) A??A?

Also could do with a parse for :
2d Game daughter contemplated backing out (4) I have RUED ...
ru = game + d (daughter) with E missing ...defn contemplated ... but the rest?

Hi Bunty,
7d. Showing => shooing [lucky]
14a. Despoiler, pse(u)d reversed + oiler [cruise]
26a. Agmas, g missing, a + m + as
2d. Contemplated backing out is given in Chambers.

Many thanks ginge

I was alluding to the band who had a hit with "born To Be Wild", they were fans of this author.

Can anyone help with 9d
Eccentric East London like following Derby perhaps(7). As mentioned before, there is an extra word in the clue.
I have ?a?eaus.
Ican see the titles, but am still searching for the creator. Any pointers welcomed!!