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I'm a little underwhelmed too, muraria - it's simply carried over from resolving the clashes, where it's essential (and works very well, I think).
Also, having moved on to the theme proper, we do nothing with it. I thought I had a reasonable 'context' for this (albeit of a different nature) but then I saw another possibility, and another... and then I gave up on it.

Still, I enjoyed it - thought it was pretty good for the most part.

Thanks, quisling. Back from the pub and will give it more stuy.

I agree, drxx and muraria. It was all going well until the final step, which seemed irrelevant, except perhaps to confirm knowledge of the context (though correct choice of discarded letters should suffice, as it’s a 255/1 shot to guess all eight correctly).

I’m not sure how I would have rounded it off, but surely more could have been done with the code. I rarely feel I’ve missed something, but this is one of those few where I wonder if the meaning of context has shifted …

Finished the grid. Unravelled the anagram of the 12 extra letters so know the symbol and the sequence of 20 digits. Then totally stuck as to how to translate the 20 digits into the 5 word theme. Any nudges most welcome.

stacpolly,
The thematic eponym runs diagonally in the grid. The five words are 3,3,2,3,9

I have the 20 letter theme from the 12 clue numbers.
But there are only nine different letters in the theme because there
is no 5 in any of the 12 clue numbers. Is this right ?

Yes, that's right

I agree that the last step was unnecessary but I liked the puzzle and the fact that each of the modified entries was one of the 160 395s on the 'context '.

If anyone has a copy of this puzzle and would be willing to send it, I'd appreciate it. My usual supplier has not come through this week.

slu.drb "at" gmail.com

puzzle received - greatly appreciated.