Almost had the grid without helpers, had EMEL/ETAL instead of EMIL/ITAL. I couldn't understand MANDM though, I kept reading it as MAN DM until I Googled it!
I am part way there. IMPOSETAXES = LEVY, UNITOFVOLUME = CORD, THIGHBONE = FEMUR, CABINGETAWAY = LODGE, DESSERTDISH = SUNDAE. I think the numbers mean shift from those entries a number of squares but I'm not making sense of it yet.