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I have just managed to complete this marvellous puzzle. I do however think that omitting 5 letters in the wordplay for a 6 letter word is bordering on unfair. I could only parse my last 6-8 of the 29 clues missing letters once I had stumbled upon the relevant account.

Yes, shades of Enigmatist's Spice Monster though fortunately the clues weren't as hard as that and it helped if you twigged where the shaded cells were. A good puzzle though I share your reservation.

Enjoyed this one even though the theme wasnt known to me. Still have a number to work out the parsing. it certainly took some adjustment to think the wordplay may only be one letter out of a 5/6 letter word!

Or even one letter out of a 3 letter word. Until you know what to highlight I think you need a leap of faith for a few answers.

Think I'm nearly there, anyone worked out 1d parsing please?

doctor is the usual abbreviation - nurse is a 3-letter insect. Some missing letters here.

Letters 2 to 5 are unclued. Common abbreviation for doctor + three letter insect that's usually clue by worker or soldier (it's in Chambers under "nurse")

Ah...! Thanks both.
Finished IQ! What shall I do now?

Lumen, what about today's Enigmatic Variations? It's on the ... gentler side!

I almost made a silly mistake in shading the third part of the account. Not helped by the misleading clue to 7 down - the element of the answer referred to is not irrational.