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I've reported that big heap of nonsensical spam.

Have now cracked 7Dn & 28 Ac. Just left with 20 Ac and 37Ac and also 33Dn (which I forgot to mention previously). Presumably 37 Ac has a clash?

No clash at 37 - look at Kubla Khan

33 is a womans name and the first 3 letters of a 7 letter word for oblivious

Right, I'm back. (Break for dinner!)

Apart from not being completely happy about the parsing of 20Ac, I now have a completed grid and 2 groups of 12 Clashing Letters :-

Ac :- LNTEKALAGTTH
Dn :- PUKLICUQNAGE

I'm tired and not functioning well. I can't see the anagrams to provide the phrases (presumably two words in each phrase), and I'm not even sure about how to follow the instruction to "draw a path through these 12 cells" (I just get a lot of squiggly lines).

I think I understand to fill in the O in 20Ac so that it looks like an "eye" (the clashing letter being an I), but I'm baffled as to how all/any of this enables me to highlight "10 cells that describe what has thus been depicted".

A little prompting would be much appreciated, and I apologise again for being so dim, which in hindsight will seem so unbelievably obtuse.

tiomateo - it might help if you look for the final instruction - ten cells that describe what has been depicted and then Google those words. They are quite easy to find.

... and both anagrams are 3 word phrases - across 4,2,6 and down 1,5,6. Hope this helps!

Thanks Smartie the breakdown of the anagrams was the hint I needed !! All done, first Listener ever for me!

Hi Smartie

I really appreciate your trying to help me and I feel both embarassed and angry that, having really enjoyed the solving of the clues and the clashes which didn't actually take me that long, I am now stumbling so badly.

I solved the 2 anagrams of the Across & Down Clashes but, while they give a sort of indication of what the theme might be about, they aren't really helping me.

I found Gitto's post encouraging when he said " I found sorting out the two phrases the most difficult part of the puzzle. However, once they become apparent the ten cells to be highlighted are quickly identifiable thereby negating a lengthy grid stare , for which I am eternally grateful".

Well, I've been giving the grid a very lengthy stare and am not getting anwhere. Are the 10 cells scattered or all together? I have looked for possible patterns but don't see any. The "path" drawn through the clashes is supposed to be "in order", which I have always understood to mean the Across clues first in ascending order.

But the each clash involves a down clue, so what is the right order. I am simply seeing haphazard lines zig-zagging across the page. I start with the first cell of 14Ac and draw the path to the 3rd cell of 16 Ac and draw a backward diagonal to the first cell of 16Ac and so it goes on without any sort of shape emerging.

My frustration turns to anger because I keep telling myself that I must be missing something very basic, given that everybody else seems to have found the endgame relatively easy and very satisfying.

Please, can someone point me slightly in a better direction?

The phrase for the down clashed starts AQU as you have found

Start your line from A to Q and then to U etc.

Focus your search for the ten letters on the outside rows/columns

There are 2 words of 4 and 6 letters

put them into google and all will come crystal clear

Hi Timomateo1,

I was in a very similar position to yourself, so I can understand your frustration.

The ten cells are split in to 2 words, one 6 letters, the other 4. The words are in separate rows but the letters in each word are next to each other. The first word is in the top half of the grid (very high) and the second word in the lower (very low). Once you have the 2 words, type them both, in the same search bar, in to Google and you'll immediately see a visual representation of how the cells are joined. All will become clear:-)