This is going to look really great when you're finished, I'm sure :)

If you ever need to pinpoint which annual a particular issue is in this thread may be some help. Hover over the images to see the names.

I am quite a bit behind on this year's issues, but I will catch up with them soon.

That map you could see is the one Ralf made 'a few years ago' (he said that, not me). He's using it as a sort of inspiration for the new style. He did also mention the possibility that he might be using the new style (once he's created it) to draw a map towards the end of the series to demonstrate the result.

30 minute shout :)

I don't know what caused the error, but usually that same dialog appears if you mis-type a keyboard command - only it repeats the mis-typed command letter for letter rather than that distinctive XPSYMCAT; one.

I've had the XPSYMCAT; one myself a couple of times, and the same 'can't use the symbols' experience. It does sort itself out though if you restart CC3. It must be some internal call for a command that goes wrong under certain rare conditions.