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No papers in Leeds today, despite visiting six shops.
Can any kind person send a copy/link ?

Do you know how to play Battleships?😒I can't remember that far back so the puzzle may be a non-starter for me. Looks interesting otherwise.

file:///C:/Users/Home/Downloads/IQ1731%20Encota.pdf

Thanks xwordfan for the attempt.
Failed to open the link, but my daughter HAS provided the three stage (?) puzzle from London.
PHEW !

After 3 hours on stage 2, I've given up for today.
I have the 22 asterisks/mines but there seem so many possibilities.
I guess key is working out where the two 8-letter words fit but I don't have the tenacity today.

I don't want to be a Grinch, but my heart sank when I saw this. I'm reluctant to invest the time on the minesweeper stage, which is not my forte at all, since there are no cryptic clues and the entry method is Sudoku rather than crossword based. No doubt it's ingenious and I hope those who do attempt it find the challenge worthwhile.

Couldn't agree more Loge. Didn't expect the 'twist' to be a non-cryptic Minesweeper/Sudoku mind-melter. Ah well, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

The clues are relatively easy to solve.
If you add up the clue lengths of the answers and take it away
from 81 you get 9 letters for the unclued entry.
Once you have solved all the other 21 clues add up all the instances
of the 9 different letters. Whats left is the letters in the unclued entry
anagram this. Once you know what this word is you can immediately
put it in the grid. Then you can start putting the other answers
in the grid using the unsolved minesweeper grid as a guide.
IE You don't have to work out where all the mines are before
you can start entering the answers in the grid.

For me their were several keys!

(i) working out the directions each answer would need to go in (eg your first asterisk should only have one possible direction for the solution)
(ii) Realising there's only one 4-letter solution
(iii) Spotting there are only very limited possibilities for the 8-lettter and unclued entries (and assuming the setter would choose an 'obvious' arrangement!)

From (i) I actually found it easier to work out where solutions of different lengths had to go before finding the specific entries - for which, the sudoko element was then invaluable.

I guess this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I thought it was a great challenge, very inventive and clever and a wonderful puzzle - perhaps not quite a cryptic crossword though! Thanks Encota

Happy Christmas all!

Many thanks, krauton and cranberryboat,
I had a brainwave/flash as soon as I posted along the lines you are suggesting and have started to make progress