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Puzzle explanation

Source of 'Life is simple' quotation

The extra letters given by wordplay, taken in alphabetical order of the encoded grid entries, spelt out “decode rim thrice; add source of quote”. Traversing the perimeter of the grid three times clockwise produced 44 triplets that decoded to “[Life is] really simple but we insist on making it complicated”. Decoding the quotation resolved the ambiguous entry for the E at the start of row g, requiring it to be AAA and not GAA. The quotation is almost universally attributed online to Confucius, but there is nothing like it in his Analects. The first appearance of it in print seems to be in the February 1949 issue of the magazine Aero Digest. Because of the dubious attribution, anything (or nothing) was accepted in the box below the grid.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation [extra letter]
b BLAE B + LEA[F] *
n BRAT B[O]RE with (A, T) for E
l CAKE CA[S]K + E(xpand)
y COMP COME [U]P − E(rskine)
s DELT [H]ELD * + T
q EELS [D]ELETIONS − INTO *
g ESNE (th)E S[E]NE(dd)
u FILL F(ligh)[T] + I’LL
v GANT (N(otice) T(he) [C](s) A(nd) G(s)) *
j ITEM [C]ITE + M’
h KAES ASK * around E[I]
c KYLE (ELY in [M]K) <
o LEME LE[E] + ME
f LIFE (Unclued)
k MAWS MA[D] + W + S
p MEED M[R] ED around (th)E
t* MEUS M[O]USE *
a REAL L after REA[R]
w* SANE S AN[D] E
k* SEAM SE[E] + AM
t SEEM C[I]S-GAMETE * − (A, C, G, T)
h* SEGO SE[C] + GO
q* SLUE [D]UELS *
e* SPUE SP + U[A]E
m STIE [O]ST + (d)IE(d)
d TEEL T[R]EE + L
r TITI TI in TI[E]
n* UGLI (NUCL[E]I with G for C) − N
b* WALI [O]W + ALI
w WANS WAN[T]S
i WELL WE + L[U]L(u)
e WEYS Y(awl)S after (W + E[Q])
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