EV 898 Prime Suspect

[DocHH]

Hello EV N&C Wine Clubbers,
Took a little longer on this one this week, had never heard of the innovator, for a start, then some words not in my vocabulary and some juggling to comply with the thematic entry added to the completion time! Got there in the end, just wondering if my Bakers counting went blank on occasion!
Time to break open the Tempranillo to accompany a sunday evening toasted sandwich.

[devadolly]

A belated hello to all N & C'ers. Not a good week for 'Me time'! Seminar, deadlines, friend with badly broken wrist in danger of starving to death and going without a drink, simply had to step in and 'do a bit', not to mention decant a couple of bottles for easy access. Pre-mixed G & T's do really well in the freezer!
Shock, horror, had a look at the preamble tonight and immediately had to have a restorative glass NZ SV, no idea, brain addled and only managed to do about a dozen clues which are giving nothing away, nor is the lack of a certain No. and none of the admirable hints given here have kick started the grey matter! Basically have just checked in as my absence has been noted but have to say, am somewhat depondent.

[Speravi]

Would it be tenable to interpret "filled thematically" as including filling with blank spaces? Just about, I suppose, but I incline to the original view of Novalis (the use of a note symbol).

On another note (ouch), do you remember a puzzle from last year where it was claimed that no correct solutions were received? Someone, I forget who, was intending to write to the editor about it, did we ever hear the outcome?

[thebuzz999]

I, too, am stumped at the end. I would be very surprised if the grid should have unfilled cells.

There is also the matter of the ambiguity of how to fill in11a, 14a and 2d since you are left with the choice of

xR
Rx or

Rx
xR

There is even another possibility when 3d is considered.

I think that 12d must provide a big clue to the solution, but I cannot fathom it. Unlike the other entries, its first two letters seem to have disappeared - unless I misunderstand the clue.

[thebuzz999]

Belay that last entry; all the ambiguities are resolved by assuming a regular pattern and I found my error in 12d.

Still unsure what to do with the spaces...

[thebuzz999]

Now that I finally grasped what was going on, I agree that the cells should be blank. The 'remainder of the grid' is an 11x11 array and the cells that reflect the affliction should be 'avoided'. Not the most inspired solution but I think it's ok...