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I enjoyed the grid fill, now complete, carried out in slow carefully checked stages with occasional errors. But can't see what the second word of the instruction refers to, nor how to carry it out to the degree required by the third. Any hints please?

Pe-rim-eter

dxx, I don't consider myself to be in any position to know whether this was the best puzzle all year, having only even looked at a handful; likewise, although I took a few years off, I confess I'm not sure quite why people are saying that this is the best puzzle in decades as long as Bandmaster's Duet For One exists.

Still, I enjoyed it. Cluing was fair, which was a useful hook to even bother trying; I guess as a scientist the theme of using AGCT coding appeals to me; and I suppose first getting into Listeners at all via the numericals explains why something that echoes those sorts of puzzle would appeal to me.

I'm sure what a "flawless" puzzle would even look like, but presumably at least one requirement is universal acclaim, so by that standard this one has fallen short. I stand by my suggestion, whether it's biased by hindsight or not, that this was accessible with less cold-solving than many feared, though. It is, after all, hard to tell how much you need for a logical solve when you don't even let yourself try. I spent the first period too intimidated by the journey to even start, but once I did I was surprised how much progress could be made using the information given and without always needing the checking answers.

Really, all I'm saying is that (a) I enjoyed it immensely, and (b) I'd encourage others to persevere.

All done now, including the source. An unbelievable grid construction and a nice satisfying end game that proves that my perimeter at least, is correct. I resolved the ambiguities that I think others have referred to by assuming that the unclued clue was going to be a word and the permutations I had only led to one word, and that is fortunately confirmed via the end game. Still do not understand why an incorrect source will not be punished as identifying how to arrive at it did take rather a long time to unravel the quote.

Thanks Syndicate, that's what I thought, but doesn't that just give a and y, for example? How can one comply withe the third word...?

Got it, duh, thanks again syndicate!

greengage, I only understood what the instruction meant after reading the wiki page on the thematic subject.

Drxx,

I really didn't want to offend in any way, just trying to get a perspective. Even though I'm a mathematician (sort of), I usually don't like numerical puzzles*, I but really, really enjoyed this one, hence I thought it's probably crossword-y enough :)

I agree that Shark's one was brilliant, and I would probably also agree that last year was slightly weaker than the one before that (overshadowed by The Magpie anniversary fireworks). This year the two other standout puzzles for me were the self-portrait one by Twin and the April Fool's one by Dolos. Both of them definitely of the one-off kind, playing the trick that you could not repeat, but also the ones that I'm unlikely to ever forget. What are your thoughts about them?

> the funny noise certain birds make
which one was that? I seem to not remember it..

*but check out the Botox one in The Magpie from last year if you can -- it's not really a numerical and is stunning!

michpunk - no offence taken and I hope my reply didn't imply any (my little joke was meant to be just that}.
The two you mention are certainly memorable - I won a prize for an April fools' puzzle for the beelzebub series ages ago, so I'm usually expecting something, but that one caught me out.
I did quite a nice job of the self-portrait and drew it on the back of the grid, cut it out and cellotaped it back into the hole (that way i kept a record of the grid-fill for my own archive - I haven't submitted an entry for a very long time).
I decided against subscribing to magpie from the start - far too many maths puzzles in it for me (I'm not too happy about the 4 numericals per year in Listener, so any further chipping away at my Times subscription really gets my goat).
As far as this puzzle goes, I wish the setter had taken to heart the message... and spared me the trouble of finding it.

Nonetheless, the elaborate endgame is breathtaking.