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Yes, got there in the end. Just about fair enough I think. I should have figured it out sooner - not as GWITty as I feared from previous encounters

An enjoyable solve and a satisfying outcome, thank you Mr E. I did, however, need a nudge from loge in “the other place” to overcome an egregious bit of pilot error on my part in the gridfill.

Well, it only took another 3 hours of grid staring before the penny finally dropped. I spent hours looking for names of the participants without the non-participants present and I can now say that I am pretty well read up on them - and there are bloody hundreds of them. I should have concentrated on the symmetry rather than fishing for red herrings, but hey ho, live and learn.

I was fearing the endgame so I put it aside until today, but it turned out to be not difficult at all. Finding the "non-participants" first (although technically there should only be five) was the key for me. That and applying the song, of course. Now the damn song is going to be stuck in my head all day.

I have a full grid and, I think, the lines of the song. But I can't find out where it's from. I've tried Google etc but no luck. Am I missing something? Please help!

I had no idea of the song - never heard of it - but I deduced the line from following the instructions in the puzzle's preamble and then used Google to find the preceding liine. If you'd like me to be more specific, then maybe we should continue on the other thread.

Perhaps you have a mistake, ortolan? When I got the line, I instantly remembered the song, but I searched the line just to be sure I had everything exactly right. Many hits came up. If you need to inquire further, use the “Answers” thread as will suggested.

Thanks to both replies. I have a line that seems to show concern for a missing person and a desire to close an entrance but am getting nothing from Google. I'll go back to the puzzle and try again.

The initial letter of your "missing" is one of the nths

I spent several hours failing with google because I had the “missing” word. It was when I realised I only had seven words and needed to find an extra short word to make the 8 that I realised there is another possibility.