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In 38a is 'circles' an anagram indicator? If not, I do not see how the wordplay works; if so, that's does seem like a satisfactory anagram indicator? 'Circles' to me is a surrounder not an anagrammer

6d the misprint is in the last word, lumen - then lose the first letter for the 'slope'
7d abbrev of the first word + 3 letters for a bit tiddly (inside the abbrev).

'circles' is a containment indicator, buzzb.

'circles' isn't an anagram indicator

7d, do you mean abbreviation of second word, drxx?

Yes, sorry lumen - I'd almost obliterated the first little word.

Thanks drxx @40. I haven’t yet worked out the rejig but I can guess how it must take care of my missing letter.

With mutilated grids, does JEG still try to check every cell? I don't envy him his role!

He surely needs to check every cell in order to be able to send solvers the year's stats next March or whenever. Looking at last year's, I see that there was only one puzzle with fewer than 300 entries!

I'm thinking I'll draw the lines first and then fill in the cells making sure all letters avoid the lines. That's doable.

The definition in 36 (with or without a possible misprint) doesn't match the definition Chambers.