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RHSL, I couldn't disagree more. There is a tremendous amount of logic hidden within the clues that totally eliminates a trial and error approach. Also, very few clue answers require little less than a basic calculator. Albeit, I am usually very dim at spotting the endgame in normal crosswords, as exemplified by my initial loss at what to enter in three columns.

I echo Oyler’s assessment. A great puzzle, requiring essentially just logic to get the letter assignments. I didn’t even touch a calculator until the end when I needed the most complicated calculations.

To anyone still working, the payoff is worth it, as the digits eventually fall into place. Candledave indeed has the right approach. As gitto wrote, examine those clues closely.

This is becoming quite frustrating. About 5 hours in and despite candledave's hint I'm still nowhere. I have the two zeros and (I think) a 2 and two 3s courtesy of the clues identified previously. I've managed to put some bounds on a few other letters but cannot find an obvious next step to narrow things down further. Every option seems to involve dozens of possibilities! Seeing the comments here, it's clear that I'm missing something. I'd greatly appreciate a nudge in the right direction.

if you have what I think you have you should be able to crack 6a next which gives you a couple more equivalencies

After a good night's sleep, I've come back to this and can now see how dim I was. Yes, close attention to candledave's advice gives a really good start. I can see that it might well fall into place from there.
So, a clever puzzle that was too clever for me!
As always, when you see it, you see it.

And when you don’t see it, you throw your toys out of the pram and blame the setter rather than yourself … bit embarrassing really

This was an intriguing puzzle. No guesswork required, it can be done by deduction, but it was initially really tough to find the way in. I probably spent twice the length of time sitting there with the zeroes deduced and one digit written in (I think we all went there...) than I did then solving the rest of the puzzle once the deductions started to fall into place. I did actually start out trying to brute-force something with the BE/BA/BEAR/BRA combinations, and that turned out to be futile. I didn't quite get in by candledave's route, but I can see how that would work -- it may not be at all obvious why that combination of clues helps, but pondering it for long enough and eventually figuring out what you can deduce and how will provide the keys needed for the rest of the puzzle!

I quite enjoy the numerics, though I know they're not everyone's cup of tea. However, it does seem to me that one thing they lack is the ability to "chip away" at a tough puzzle throughout the week -- I can come back to a set of tricky clues several times, getting one more here and one more there, and eventually break through. Numerics tend to be impenetrable to start with, then once they break through it's a pretty quick process to have them finished. This is the first puzzle this year that I've finished within one day. I wonder if there could be a way to devise a numeric that had the "chip away" capacity of a really good word-based puzzle...

Kudos to this one for the fine set of "words" the clues formed. Someone had fun there. And a nice little endgame I thought was going to be harder than it turned out. Many thanks Hedgehog -- that was indeed just the job!

I don't recall blaming the setter. I just said that it was an appalling experience. And, perceptively, that I was excessively dim.

Perhaps, for me, the issue with number puzzles is that they will usually yield to a combination of brute force and minor insight. So that's my lazy go-to when I don't get the full PDMs.

This time, that approach was especially tedious. So, I was appropriately punished for not thinking smartly enough in the first place.

And I agree with mooncow about the relatively quick process once they stop being impenetrable, in contrast to the common challenge of solving the last few clues in a crossword.

Maybe, dodgepot, I should resolve to try harder to solve these with logic before resorting to Excel.

kitsune, if you start to eliminate the possibilities of the equivalences of 1 this can lead to eliminating the a lot of the potential equivalencies of several other letters.