Crossword Help Forum
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Bathmatters, Norah (Admin) here.

Yes, it is totally kosher to start a new thread headed Parsing Enquiries provided there is only one such thread on the first page.

In fact, I’ll set you off. There is a thread at the top labelled Explanation Help Please, I’ll rename that thread to Parsing Help Please.

All done. My only misgiving is that there is no check for the third letter of the thematic entry in the bottom row. There only appears to be one viable option for the un-coded word in Chambers, so I am happy that I have the right answer, but confirmation would have been nice.

0pt0, if you have solved 30d (which of course has to be entered jumbled) and have also solved 29a and 32a, then the only letter left from 30d after you've entered both those across clues must be the 3rd letter of that short unclued across thematic.

Thanks Will37. I may not have made myself clear. I have indeed solved 29 across, 32 across and 30 down which gives me the third letter of the thematic entry on the bottom row, as you rightly say. Most of the letters used for encoding occur more than once in the final grid, which for me, confirms their correctness. When I originally posted, I thought that the third letter in the entry on the bottom row was the only one which was only used once and therefore not confirmed. However, I now realise that there are other letters which are only used once, so my concerns are unfounded. Thanks again.

That was tough!

Thanks Candledave (125), you are right that the preamble would have instructed us to convert the items back to real words after completion.
... and thanks to all other contributors.

Thanks so much Norah! Hooray!

I know I'm very late to the party but I'm almost done and need a nudge please...
Solved all the clues except 18d and, despite having read all the helpful comments about how to tackle the coding I'm stumped. I see the repeated letter in 20ac which could make a possible food but other contributors have mentioned that the code is pretty random, in which case I can't see how to proceed unless each letter shifts by the same amount each time (as bobbycollins mentions in #84).
Pretty frustrating to have got this far and fallen at the last fence so any hints would be gratefully received!

use what you have letters you have from 20a ....yes it's a food......and see if you can find letters in the other 5 unclued to make "similar " foods.
The one in the line above 20a is quite common as is the one in the bottom left corner....

Have you seen all the "missing letters" from the downs? The common "missing" one goes with barcode and E for an anagram to make the required coin...