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turast
In reply to your post (#45), I agree that it's extremely frustrating if you can't work out what an endgame is all about, but to proffer the opinion that "...those solvers who have worked out the last bit, have had to make a leap of faith…" is a little harsh.
I always make a point of taking in the title of a Listener crossword as well as the preamble. That, together with the seven-letter word immediately brought to my mind the overall theme of the puzzle. The link between the DOWN clues' extra words – as has been mentioned elsewhere – gave a big hint towards what was required as regards the "sequence and symbols… required". With regard to the "colours", if you read the preamble carefully, you'll see that the first set of symbols are to be "in a colour of the solver's choice". That makes it perfectly plain that you have free rein as to which colour you select, as long as the second set of symbols is in a different colour from the first.
The majority of us will eventually come across a cryptic clue to which the answer is a complete mystery. It would be very unfair to say that those who have solved it have had to make "a leap of faith"!

I've finished the puzzle – including the endgame which gave me much less of a headache than many here have reported. (I did complete the previous Listener puzzle that employed this idea, so obviously that was a massive help.)

However, for the sake of completeness, I need help with parsing.

Initially, I had 'Malaysian' in 8dn as an extra word, since the clue works just as well with the entry in the BRB without it. However, 'Malaysian' does not fit with the thematic link I have for the down clues. So I have six correct extra words taken from down clues. Their last letters can be arranged to make PERTLY. Can I have a hint to the last extra word in the down clues or it's clue, please?

Also I have the required seven extra words from the down clues, but I can't parse 37ac without removing the first word, even though it seems like it should be a 'normal' clue.

Jif - looks like you’re missing 6 or 29d

Re 37a - the first part of the answer is a prime minister so no need to delete the word prime

Thanks, CD. It was 6dn I was missing: open to more than one interpretation. Sneeky, Karla!
(I now remember seeing the PM on the news with the other PM who doesn't know when he's at a party.)

The visiting PM is sorely in need of the answer…..

Please ignore my rant @29, I have just realised how stupid I can be as I had decided the symbol to be used represented the 7 letter thematic word. I now realise that it should represent a quarter or a half within the necessary highlighted cells - I am now sat in a corner wearing suitably representative headwear.

Git(to). I’ve said it before, but it bears repetition.
Nominative determinism😛

A tad on the harsh side, SimpleSimon, but I suppose you are including yourself in the same circle in that particular Venn diagram!
Gave me a laugh! 🤣

Jif73. Indeed I am, especially as a mathematician. I like to describe myself thus: deep on the surface, but shallow deep down 😳

The puzzle makes no thematic sense whatsoever. Somebody earlier suggested that the horizontal and vertical positions are significant. Up to a point they are, but the position of the the first two highlighted items of the first word are thematically wrong, as are the last three of the two-word phrase. To my mind it's just a mess.