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I consider erasure impossible because one of the erased letters is required for the final step. That only leaves coloured pencils, for me

I agree with all of you that erasure is not possible; I also agree that this implies highlighting, which is the usual operation, is likely. I further assume no letter changes are required, since the other steps explicitly call for that, and this one does not. In terms of what to actually do with the highlighter: I don't know! I almost see a somewhat-relevant word from earlier in the thematic material spelled out in the location, but the letters are non-contiguous.

Thanks quisling. I agree the characters' names cannot be erased due to the letter being needed for the final step. I did wonder about erasing the interior of the thematic location though (interpreting "characters" to mean "letters in grid squares" here), which admittedly strangely obliterates a small part of a name, so would be odd.

I think I see what chrisremo refers to (two thirds of the letters?) but wouldn't describe that as "the fate of the characters". I think I'm beginning to lean towards an artistic rendering of the word in the message preceding the work's title, but it doesn't give me the same sense of "well that puzzle's definitely finished" that I'm used to with the Listener.

Nxe, your alternative erasure possibility occurred to me as well. I agree that its interruption of previous thematic material makes it seem less likely, but given the position of this instruction (after the affected name, and before a name it would not affect), it could still be possible. I Just don't really know how to evaluate the potential correctness of these ideas.

Presumably it is important that the depiction is "not physical"—so the correct method would be one that could be performed physically, but is not—but I'm not particularly sure how to interpret that either. I would think anything done to a crossword will intrinsically be more "graphical" than "physical" in nature.

I felt satisfaction finding the real words after the 14 letters were changed. I found the final step far less satisfying. I’m tempted to depict the fate physically and pop the end result into an envelope after this puzzle.

Could someone explain 34acr? I know the answer and entry but the wordplay eludes me.

Buzzb, the extra letter is at the beginning. Drop a three-letter abbrev. for Europe from the activity of a famous contemporary Cuban. The skill levels are Japanese

Acosta is a male ballet dancer. The entry, with its escapee letter at the start, refers to martial arts skills.

I left this beast for a couple of days and did a couple of the easier Magpies this month to remember again why I enjoy these types of puzzles.

On return I sorted out all my various parsing issues except one - can’t see the wordplay on the pendant good luck symbol clue - anyone kind enough to put me out of my misery.

Fwiw, having gone back and forth on stage 2, I’ve decided to get a certain coloured crayon out rather than go down the erasure route.

Candledave, I assume you have the extra word. The entry is just the last half of a famous symbol, perhaps surprisingly also a good luck charm.

I’m sure you’re right about stage 2