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Tony, my interpretation is that the "nothing but" version of the quotation (there are others) is the right one, and it does indeed lead to a radical action.

But as Drxx has rightly pointed out, this involves more than 10 cells, and therefore contradicts the preamble. My own view is that the wording of the preamble is misleading and the the obvious solution is the correct one. Then again, this could be one of the puzzles that seems deceptively easy but has a sting in the tail...

TonyNannini you’re spot on. Buy a rubber

Loge, Drxx. Can understand how you see a contradiction in the preamble. We took it literally, and used a rubber. Perhaps another word should have been used instead of “involving”, although once you see the 10 cells, it seems obvious.

Looking through some of the (very) old Listener puzzles I did notice that some of them mentioned in the preamble to use a pencil initially! No mention of that these days. Seriously though what if the man in the street - possibly new to the Listener - only had a newspaper copy and got to the point we are discussing. What then if he/she had no tippex!

Agreed SS. Problem is, the only obvious candidate to replace "involving" appears in the quotation, and thus would be rather a giveaway. I can't think of another suitable word that fits, though I'm sure someone else will be able to.

Perhaps the "involving 10 cells" could have been omitted, as Drxx suggests. That would remove any uncertainty, but I'm always grateful when we are told how many cells we need to highlight/delete/colour etc.

I must admit I didn't notice the discrepancy until others pointed it out!

Okay, so thanks to unclued's vertical advice I've stopped staring at the horizontals and seen the expected 10 cells. However, one version of the BP advice includes a phrase which is to be found in standard crossword form in the three horizontal cells centred on 24, and a version of the first word of the vertical phrase appears in the middle of the fourth row. You can find a two word version of the second word in several places. At least as a caprice, you could send in a completed grid with a selection of those and claim to be just as correct!

The listener marking is very scrupulous as some of the clues are usually deliberately ambiguous and require exact parsing to obtain the correct solution. I was initially worried by a couple of those in this one, but other than OCD kicking in, I need not worry anymore (but I have made some rather profound and stupid assumptions before today).

The man with only one paper copy could, at least theoretically, use scissors and send only the bits of the grid that correspond to the solution to the end game. Definitely nothing but... and coincidentally rather literally fulfils the involving ten cells instruction.
Yonks ago, a Listener required you to "erase everything". In those days, I was solving on the paper version, so only had the one copy. I resolved to send in a blank piece of paper, claiming I had successfully erased all the answers, the grid lines and numbers, the clues and the preamble. I didn't win.

Zabadak, it took me longer to work out your three horizontal cells around 24 than it did to find the actual solution!

I have used a pencil for many a moon now, though as an online subscriber I can always print another copy if need be (as I did with the recent Dysart). It's true that what is obvious to seasoned solvers won't be to a newcomer, but I imagine that anyone who's used a pen on the paper version of a puzzle that requires rearrangement or deletion won't make the same mistake twice!

The version of BP`s advice which I found required 2 items to be left behind when you leave. I think a better end game would have been to remove "you" from the grid and leave in its place "O" (nothing) and "TA" (thanks). That would have saved a lot of rubbing out/correction fluid and made solving the clues for the rest of the grid worthwhile.