Uh-oh! Something's gone awry with this meta's clues, the grid seems fine though so... just solve it I guess? Answer is a 10-letter word. (Note: This meta is probably very hard to solve, I'd be surprised if anyone got it, this was very experimental, so just have fun)
Each clue has one of its letters replaced by another letter/character. Taking these letters in order (Acrosses and downs), they spell out the first verse of Close To You by The Carpenters. e.g. ASP is [Certain wiper] instead of Viper, so you should take the W.
wow wow wow. i was writing down the typo letters as i went but got distracted bc i’ve been watching shrek while i solved this. great meta, great song, great work!!
Fun! Hard! That was a clever concept. I didn't know about the song, but once the meta clues were finally done (with lots of checking) the few remaining clues were a piece of cake. Thanks!