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https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2006/jul/03/genius-crossword-37

Clearly this puzzle had special instructions. We'd love to know exactly what they were!

We've managed to complete 7 of the down answers and 4 of the across answers. Now it's all come grinding to a halt, so we must not have guessed the special instructions quite right.

Shall I say what we've got so far?

I’ll have a look after this week’s Listener and see if I can work anything out

I've completed the puzzle and it all works out fine. But it's very challenging, even with the instructions. These would be mine:

"Trust me . . ." Each of the 28 clues has either two or three consecutive letters surgically removed from its wordplay and grid entry. These comprise four groups of seven, and are thematic .

Have a go with that and come back if you're still stuck.

That is amazing deduction, Quisling:-)

Whew! That was a tough one - we've only just finished now! Sorry I've taken so long to respond - and to thank you. I'm amazed and impressed that you did it so quickly, Quisling.

We'd got three of the missing letter sets but thought they were always added at the beginning. Only today did we get the fourth letter set. In the end it was quite a slog. There was a lot of new vocabulary. We made heavy use of onelook and wikipedia!

Thank you so much for your help!