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But the S doesn't have that... does it?

I know what you're getting at quisling, I'm just struggling to visualise flipping the S (for some weird reason). I'll have to cut one out and actually flip it!

Ok drxx. Apologies for my clumsy explanation. I think this is the whole subtlety of the puzzle. Theragman saw it at #81, where he described the final grid. But any crossing letter which is transformed into one which is unreadable crosses another which is similarly transformed. Like the S in Gascon/Sennit, for example

Or the A in Heated/Nomina. One NS reversal, one 180 degree rotation, but both have the same effect on the A

It is slightly more complicated than that. S does not have horizontal or vertical symmetry. However both ns and ew flips lead to the same “reversed” s. There is a 45 degree symmetry so a rotation leaves the same shape.
I started pencilling in answers before I fully understood how it worked and on completion when I checked back I found several errors made on early entries - especially in unches.

No tipp-ex required (I think) the S is identically reversed by vertical and horizontal flips but is unchanged when rotated (which is how I've entered them).

We might be at cross purposes here quisling, I think you were making a general point, and not suggesting that only the N is affected when entering INS (merely using the N as an example). Is that right?

Yes drxx. Spot on. It was just an example. Not just the N, but the S too. Thanks for clarifying what I was trying to say!

Thanks quisling and smithsax - I've been away from it and should have picked up the thread where I left off. Seeing your last post out of context threw me. This puzzle has got me doubting my eyes!

Still ploughing through the clues. I have DANTIST for the author clue but how is the poem “e” to be removed from Dante? I’m probably missing something obvious!

Drop a metonymic three-letter word for author from the start of a seven-letter word for a poem and you have the first four letters of the poet, unclued