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I am in exactly the same position

gitto - suggest you follow the instruction literally, to the the letter even

Thanks CD. Now got the 43 cells shaded and the accuracy of the section reproduced is amazingly precise. Wonderful construction - just a tad too much grid staring for me - but I am used to that. As some of the necessary cells cannot be reproduced faithfully I'm guessing Brendan won't need his crayons - but I bet he does use them.

I enjoyed the grid fill and the endgame, but I'm finding myself in a strange (and seemingly rare) situation of having no idea what the final 43 cells represent. I have the combatants and resulting theme, I understand the title in regards to the theme, and I have no doubt that my extracted words are right as they give a sensible response to "where the message is" and exactly 43 cells. But I suppose I haven't found the right wiki page related to the theme yet since the final result is one I do not recognize (despite the 30 making something recognizable).

Ah this posting magic does work. I now found what I need.

Nice puzzle Pandiculator.

Very irritating puzzle.

Completed most of the grid, identified theme and what to highlight, but really can’t be bothered doing a grid stare to work out precisely what to highlight.

Ho hum.

You don’t need to do a grid stare - just follow the instructions

Dim, there is no need for a grid stare at all, as Candledave says, just a proper understanding of the preamble. If you Google what is spelt by the first letters of the superfluous words, you will find the “message” mentioned. And the letters spell out, first, where the “message” is now and second, what you must highlight, literally. Just think about what “literally” might mean in that context.

I'm not there yet, still missing several in NW. Rest almost complete.
Can someone help with a guide to 1a and 1d? Have stared for hours and eliminated all of Persephone's siblings I think!

1a Same father only (lots of possibilities but this one has 4 letters).
1d 'I' (3 letters) + 'imitate' [both raised] around 'g' - def is a term in Logic.