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There are only 7 clues that enter the 3*3 block. OptO. So you should only have 7 letters, one per clue. They may initially look like gobbledegook but they can be resolved into something sensible fairly easily.

If you're not enjoying this bit wait til you get to the circular next bit.

You should have in the top row (L - R top to bottom) the 4 corrections to the 4 consecutive across clues, the next 3 letters are from the 3 down clues in order - they are all different letters.

Here's the interpretation, 0pt0 -
I mentioned earlier a particular letter that's used in various ways. Initially it leads to a single 11 letter word but for this message it's two words - so the full message (including hyphens) is: 2, 9, 5-4, 2, 5-4.

The next phase has been mentioned but it really isn't that bad, this could help -

The next time the variously used letter appears it's two words again - but with a different meaning (a short history in the wiki article gives the date of amalgamation, immediately before this is a short paragraph showing the contributors).

drxx - there’s no denying there’s circularity though so how bad it is for any one person does depend on whether they identify the thematic words correctly….and there’s a few options

I could have fully-fledged a too-obvious highlighting possibility, I suppose (I have the necessary artistic skills but how many other solvers here would?) and the only other highlighting possibility I considered would have completely obliterated it, so I didn't even bother looking for that one.

It was all quite linear for me - writing the 2 possible letters at the head of each clue, then overwriting them as I went (in 3 different colours) meant I could simply read down the columns and see exactly what was required pretty quickly.
If solvers don't have a multi-coloured pop-up pen (along with their set-squares, compasses, dividers... etc etc) I'd recommend getting one.

You are spot on, drxx. The idea that there are so many thematic candidates that it’s almost impossible to solve without endless trial and error is simply incorrect. I tried to suggest earlier that there was a more logical way. The fact that so many solvers seem to have come up short at that point and used the “grid stare” excuse is actually a merit of the puzzle, not a weakness, in my view.

drxx, thank you for your helpful reply enabling me to complete the puzzle.

jlc, thank you for pointer about 2D. I had the wrong word.

Thanks Smellyharry and Drxx. I have now resolved the 3 x 3 block. I have three thematic words, of which I am fairly confident, but the misprints arising therefrom do not make any sense to me. I gather from a post much earlier in this thread that the message may begin 3, 5, 7, but this has not helped.

In normal order, you should have 12 misprints (not corrections) from across clues, followed by 7 misprints from down clues.

Yes, it starts 3, 5, 7: 3, 5 describes what you've just highlighted (although one of the highlighted words is dealt with later). 7 is what they're doing to become the theme. The rest of it has just one 2 letter word between the two letters mentioned in the preamble (and the variable letter means something else this time).