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I'm clearly not understanding the preamble. I've read it as that, where a letter in the answer is not included in the wordplay, there will only be one instance of that letter in the row or column it appears in - but ...

In one answer (and I could of cited many others) there is a P not included in the wordplay but the word also starts with a P so, right there, there's another incidence of it in the same row or column - what am I not seeing?

Brendan, I think it means only one omitted letter appears in each row/column.

.... the other P in the entry you mention is included in the wordplay.

Thanks Mattrom

Sorry Mattrom, our posts crossed.

Yes, the first P is included in the wordplay but I took the "incidences" in the preamble to be the letter itself so, as in this instance, there are 2 P's in the same row or, to put it another way, 2 incidences of the letter P in the same row which, from my reading anyway, is contrary to what's said in the preamble ... "These letters, which must be highlighted in the completed grid, are positioned such that there is only one such incidence in each row and column"

By "these letters" it means "letters omitted from wordplay". There is a case or two where the "only one per row or column" helps you to determine which of 2 possible letters is to be highlighted,

Thanks Buddy, yes I see that but I stand by my original point in that the preamble is unclear if it's referring to the instance of a missing letter or the letter itself.

"24 clues omit one letter.... these letters ... are positioned". "These letters" clearly refers to the omitted letters.

As such an "incidence" is an incidence of a missing letter.

A prompt would be appreciated for 'Foreign female in Nice hastened goddess in to be there (9)'