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Very clever Artix. Thank you.

I’ve populated the grid but am stuck on the numbering. Any hints please?

Number all the clues in the grid
For those 24 clues which are entirely checked by other clues only,
in numerical order take the clue numbers letter of the clue.
So if the first suitable clue is numbered 1 take the first letter of its clue
if the second suitable clue is numbered 3 tale the third letter of its clue etc

You might find that as you number them, it seems like clue 4 should be number 5. If so, it means you’ve accidentally reflected your gridfill in the NW-SE axis, so you need to transpose all the answers. I fell into that trap 🙈

A nice workout from Artix, but I must say that after the effort it took to number the grid and tease out the message from the clues, the end result was slightly underwhelming. Still, the gridfill was fun.

I agree, Buddy. The highlighting was guessable from the completed grid, and the remainder something of a chore

Thanks quisling. That sorted me. Agreed that the end game was tedious.

Glad I was able to help, sootoo

Hi Quisling
I am slightly puzzled by this (which isn't difficult) but I can't see any other way to fill the grid. My first across entry is the one with double B in it. Is this not correct?

Hi marjoram, you can indeed fill the grid that way, but you will find that the first five letters of that BB word will begin down answers. So where there is a 4 marked in the grid it should be a 5.

The way round it is to put the BB word as the first down answer. You will then find, once the grid is completed, that the 4 is where the fourth down answer begins. So reflect the answers in the NW-SE diagonal and all will be well.