Boreas, I usually can't see things in grids either - but this one seemed marginally more obvious. Have you got an idea of what the letter is? I had a short list by that point - and the 'symmetrically disposed' n the preamble helped there.
I wonder why we're not given - as we usually are - the number of cells to be highlighted. Those who have found the hidden goody will doubtless be able to advise if that information has been withheld for a thematic reason, but somehow I doubt it. I'm having difficulty resolving "word square" with symmetry in a 12x13 grid. More gazing called for. (I have the letter, and am assuming, since I can't see anything, that the message does not appear in that shape.)
Jockie, I don't know if it was my mention of 'word square' that's made things worse for you. All I meant was 'treat it like a word square, hunt for the missing word(phrase/whatever)'.
You might want to have another think about the message appearing in the shape of the letter.
I've finished this, but I'm a bit puzzled by 2d. The answer I have appears to be an anagram but I have an extra letter (by coincidence the 'missing' letter) that doesn't seem to be clued.
Apologies for hijacking this thread, I didn't manage to get the paper today so was wondering if someone could send a scanned copy of the puzzle to [email protected]
I'm not quite far enough to be sure, but there might be an A misprint in the clue next to the one with the O misprint (depending on exactly how you define that answer)