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Thanks, Smithsax. How on earth did I miss that?

I enjoyed this one -- hard, but rewarding, and steady progress as I kept spotting little deductions I could make to squeeze extra letters into place. I do think the clues were a bit mean when you get so little help back from the grid so have to cold-solve so many to get started: obscure definitions in clue AND answer, and a few of the definitions are a bit shaky for my liking -- hints from here were really useful so thanks all. The other thing that's a bit mean is how many of the added/omitted letters are on unches, so can only be figured out by reverse-engineering from the sentences they end up making. The first clues I got into place, like 6, 7, 22, 24, all did this so I had about eight clues in the grid before I figured out my first letter! That did make me feel as though Sabre was out to get me... but I persevered and got there. Very elegant endgame -- sneaky, making me think my decoding was going all awry at first :-) I agree: would like more like this (though perhaps with very *slightly* tighter cluing so I get to the end with more fingernails intact).

Well this has taken nearly a week for us to crack.
Having done the necessary replacements, we thought something pictorial should stand out, but we can't see a thing!
A real disappointment after so much hard slog!!
Unless??

ThIs was a masterpiece of construction and a real challenge to solve. But when I saw where the end game was taking me I had to put it aside and not complete it. Now 4 weeks into 8 weeks of radiotherapy, I didn’t really want that image in my head!

Jack Aubrey... Indeed, it was a masterpiece of construction. I had many sense of humour failures along the way. But thankfully my humour returned when the endgame reminded me of a famous Victoria Wood sketch, slowly, shakily and hysterically led by Julie Walters. Hopefully this would be a much less sinister image for you to take with you to radiotherapy... wishing you much success with that.

First, the important stuff -
Best wishes, jack aubrey - I hope the treatment goes very well for you.

Now, the other stuff -
Could someone please give a little more detail to justify why this puzzle is a 'masterpiece'? (that word can certainly be applied to the puzzle's theme, but the puzzle itself?) I found the whole thing random in the extreme - from the clues to the solving 'route' to the endgame.

For me, a grid full of non-words and a miserly two columns of 'meaning' is about as far from a 'masterpiece' as you can get.
As it was a 'celebratory' puzzle I had hoped to keep my opinion to myself (sorry, but I almost managed it).
I can see brilliance in the way the puzzle has been designed to provide the bare minimum of forward momentum - but if that's what makes a 'masterpiece', perhaps you could you point out another example.

I seem to be in a minority of people on this one. I happily solved the clues and the grid and have the two instructions but have come horribly unstuck with the end game. Par for the course with me. I’ve spent the last week picking it up and putting it down with ever more attempts scribbled in margins. Helpful nudge anyone?

paultje - it helps if you're either a linguist or an Arts graduate (ideally both - but I was lucky enough to be just the one).

paultje, the instruction should point you toward two features “in code”. You can probably spot which two are meant: they are composed entirely of unches and full of weird letters. The thing you’re supposed to add to them is not in the grid but is printed above it. Adding is done letter by letter, wrapping around: so E+S=X and M+P=C. The result looks unpromising at first, because it’s in a foreign language.

Drxx and merenz, many thanks for your kind thoughts. For what it’s worth my saying it was a “masterpiece of construction” meant just that: I admired the effort that went into reverse engineering the outcome. And it was definitely “a challenge to solve”. I can’t say I enjoyed the solving challenge though. I stuck with it more out of cussedness than enthusiasm.