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Hello gang. Getting through this. Been staring very blankly at 34A - HUNCH ABOUT SUBATOMIC PARTICLES (4). I have TE.S, feeling like the T could be a clash though?

Thom,
Your e is wrong. This entry has a missing.letter and the meaning of 'hunch' is a physical one, not an ' idea' one.

I staggered over the finishing line when the penny dropped about the 'context' followed by a delve through a rather long list on the Internet.

I do have a couple of queries though. What's the implication of the first line of the preamble? 'Solvers must act in keeping with the theme...before entering the answers etc'. I just entered the answers. Am I missing something?

+ the puzzle title 'Marks' is it that to do with the highlighted eponym (which was the key to the whole thing for me) and the symbol?

Ta!

Aaaah! I had SEETHER down (which... sort of... worked if you squinted). Got it, thanks!

Marks refers to both of those, and one of the creators, I assume.

Prior to entry the wordplay of each of those clues undergoes a “removal”, much as the eponym did. I assume that is what is alluded to.

I took the opening sentence to mean we're to do nothing out of the ordinary following the removals. But I take your point regarding, ''before entering...'' ('when entering...' would have made more sense if that were the case).

Ah, righto. Thanks chaps. 👍

I would never have worked out the 20 letters/5 words thing without spotting the eponym. I couldn't see a way in to decoding the numbers although the repeat cluster might have assisted.

I enjoyed the grid fill but felt the rest was a little logically disjointed - but might be missing some logical factors.

I also thought we were supposed to actively do something with those entries (anagram, cycle etc.) but there was no way that would have resulted in real words in most cases.
I did think afterwards that either the instructions were a red herring or, we were meant to do what the four-legged protagonist in the story did: nothing!

In still missing the 8th clash. An A/I? Not sure where it is.

What have you got for 12a?