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Thanks.

I was going down completely the wrong path! Thought the definition was last 2 words, and the last 3 letters of answer came from synonym for 'gain' missing the first letter.

kitsune - you have to write the inventor under the grid so pretty crucial to completing the puzzle

Good point, cd, silly me!

I really enjoyed the grid fill - just the right level of difficulty for me. Kept me entertained for quite a few hours.
The end game though I felt was bordering on unfair. Two days of going back to it and not a clue what it was all about. Eventually I came here and it was only with Drxxx’s “big” that got me over the line. I don’t think either the hint or the wordplay are sufficiently precise allow normal people to find the theme if they have no prior knowledge of the “inventor” or the effect.

For the third week running, I find that my enjoyment of solving the clues and filling the grid, has been marred by a very difficult end-game. I have the message(s) and I think I have resolved the required move, but the inventor eludes me despite the hints earlier in this forum. I was not a child in the seventies, so I have no idea what is referred to by that hint. Would it be allowable, within the rules of this forum, to provide a more succinct hint?

My advice is if you can’t get an answer here, try the Facebook Listener forum.

It is difficult to give a specific hint here without giving it all away but I would say I found the word inventor while accurate was unhelpful. It pointed me towards the likes of Dyson and Sinclair etc. Deviser of the thematic effect might be fairer.

Would a more succinct hint help? Not a lot.

0pt0, I’ll try to steer you towards the inventor. I’m assuming you have the message in the form 5,5,4,2,5,11,6,4. Start with drxx’s excellent hint at #76. That gives you the final 6,4, and is six letters. Add a single letter abbreviation for the first 5, and add the 2. That’s nine letters. Then think of a common three-letter synonym for the second 5.

If you put all those letters into the following the inventor should appear.

https://anagram-solver.net/

Just change the final three-letter synonym until you find one that works.

It’s not succinct, but it should work

Opt0 - you are trying to find a name (following the last word) that fits in the middle of the rest of the 'clue' to give you a sensible 'middle' for the 6,6 inventor.
For example 'Bianca' could be in the middle of 'Fabian Carter'.
I can't think of too many that work.