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I just spent 2 hours trying to make sense the missing letters and the misprints. This is mainly because a) I currently have 26 misprints, not 25, and the first 4 make no sense at all, b) I only have 10 missing letters, but I can't parse 37a or 38a and finally c) I haven't got a clue of what the sequence is (or means)

Gitto, I think your queries might be better on the Extra Help thread - 'gentle hints' might be too gentle to be of use!

I'm fascinated by the idea that the final stages are unambiguous. I can find at least 3 ways of delivering on the instruction, and would welcome a discussion with anyone who feels it's worth it.

mrbaddie "at" btinternet "dot" com should do it.

Something odd has happened, and my apologies if two posts from me appear one after the other. I posted a few minutes ago, but nothing has appeared - this hasn't happened before. So I'll post it again (if I can remember what I said).

I find it strange that others find the final stage unambiguous. I can find 3 ways of carrying out the instruction, all of them leading to a different submission. I would welcome an exchange of views, but not here.

mrbaddie "at" btinternet "dot" com will find me. Here's hoping!

I thought that the wording of the preamble 'to spell out the question's answer' removed any ambiguity. Also, nothing else would go to the 'barred cell' in a real situation.

Very clever puzzle though. Haven't worked out the puzzle title yet (as usual!). Harry East was a baseball player that committed suicide in a bizarre fashion according to Wikipedia but I'm pretty sure that's nothing to do with this crossword puzzle!

simond9x - Like you I use the CD as my tool of choice, since it has a much better search capability as well as thesaurus. But as the years pass, more and more we get entries that are only in later editions (undoubtedly not an accident). The app nicely keeps itself updated...of course the CD can't. When something looks right but I can't find it in the CD - e.g. it's listed in TEA - I always try the app.

I think I have finished this, but the "spell out the questions answer" is worrying me. I do not see any answer spelt out, but I do see a logical reason why the letter in the blank cell would indicate the answer to the question.

Thanks to those who have replied elsewhere - the tangle that was my ancient brain is now sorted. But ... the title? We all know, of course, that light will dawn on me as soon as this post whizzes into view, but so far there hasn't been a dawning.

gitto - if you carry out the instruction correctly, you will interact with certain cells in a certain order. The letters in those cells in that order do spell out the answer.

Re: title - and in the spirit of the gentlest possible of hints - ‘Rugby’…