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So from each of the 5 unclued solutions, one must erase all the letters which also appear anywhere in the top row unclued solution, the bottom row unclued solution or the name of the tune. Is that what the preamble is telling us?

If I do this to my grid, nothing interesting, thematic or with any sort of point jumps out at me, so my question is......what is the point of this puzzle?

Turast, although I felt I interpreted the 'implicit instruction', my final result isn't the same as Sunray's!

Malone ... how many blank cells do you have?

I understood it to mean that the last two letters in the song title must be erased from the five unclued theme words, but not from the top and bottom rows and not from song title itself.

I just rubbed out the whole of the unclued answers except those letters crossing the top and bottom rows and the minor diagonal. I've no idea how many that was as I don't keep a copy. Given the different interpretations above I would agree that the Preamble, like so many, was not a model of lucidity.

Kirky, I didn't count my blanks.

I actually have two completed grids. One is the same as Orson's where the last two letters in the song title are removed from the unclued theme words... The other grid has the unclued entries themselves removed. as others here have done.

I reread the preamble.
I agree with orson.
The instruction given by the song title has to be obeyed.

these entries must obey the implicit instruction, as
given by the highlighted tune name

So last two letters are gone.

That means only 3 blank cells.
Any thoughts?

My quibble with the preamble is two-fold, really. Firstly it is unclear as to what you actually have to do, in that it depends on your interpretation of what the tune's title is telling you. Secondly, if you carry out any or all of the interpretations mentioned above, what do you end up with. Normally, after the preamble instructions have been carried out, something obvious and coherent emerges. As far as I can see, that is not the case with this puzzle. I may be wrong, though.

Thanks, sunray.
Yes, I had only 3 blank cells when I removed the last two letters of the tune. If, however, you interpret the preamble slightly differently, you get a variation...

Instead of being two letters, the last word could indicate that the unclued theme-words themselves are to go.


The preamble information, especially the parts about 'in full' and obeying both sets of instructions, is rather garbled for me! All told, it wasn't a very satisfying puzzle.

Given the synonymous meanings of the 5 unclued entries, if all of their cells are left blank, the finished grid would indeed have 5 23Across areas, as if the puzzle had been written on a column 3 substance, and the entries were row 5. I suppose X-Type would say that the meaning of the preamble was TRANSPARENT all along? DIS-covered? The presence of the repeated word FULL and "must still be obeyed" continues to baffle me.