Each of the answers to the first set of clues (the answers are in alphabetical order) consists of a sequence of eight letters which has had two or three instances of a bigram inserted into one of the seven positions between adjacent letters.
Each of the answers to the second set of clues (the clues are in alphabetical order) is a single ASCII character.
Each pattern of bigram insertions, read as binary (0 = no insertion, 1 = insertion) is the 7-bit binary ASCII code for one of the characters. (Note that ASCII appears repeatedly as the initials of the flavortext, which refers to seven crannies among individual items.)
This enables us to match up the two sets of answers:
| Clue 1 | Answer 1 | ASCII code | Answer 2 | Clue 2 | Bigram | Roman num. | # of insertions | c/ea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meat Loaf album (4 wds.) | B()A(TO)U(TO)F()H()E()L()L | 0110000 | 0 | Cipher | T | O | IV | 2 | c |
| Dogs originating where Northumberland meets Scotland (2 wds.) | B()O()R()D(ER)T(ER)R()I(ER)S | 0001101 | carriage return | Send a typewriter part all the way back | E | R | XI | 3 | ea |
| Create (3 wds.) | B()R(IN)G(IN)T()O()B()E(IN)G | 0110001 | 1 | Pierce Laboratory building | I | N | I | 3 | ea |
| Drinking without stopping for breath (hyph.) | C()H(UG)A()L(UG)G()I()N()G | 0101000 | ( | Frown, often | U | G | VIII | 2 | c |
| Things the meek may avoid | C(ON)F()R(ON)T()A()T()I(ON)S | 1010001 | Q | Michael Moriarty film | O | N | V | 3 | ea |
| Old "sulfide"-free name for (C2H5)2S (2 wds.) | E(TH)Y()L(TH)I()O()E(TH)E()R | 1010010 | R | Nicholas Hoult character | T | H | III | 3 | ea |
| "Turn this ship sharply away from port!" (hyph.) | H(AR)D()A()S()T(AR)B()O(AR)D | 1000101 | E | Polar explorer Dongchen | A | R | VI | 3 | ea |
| Last two letters of the first answer, slangily (2 wds.) | H()O(CK)E()Y()S()T()I(CK)S | 0100001 | ! | Good move | C | K | VI | 2 | c |
| Bushmills, say (2 wds.) | I()R(IS)H()W()H(IS)K()E()Y | 0100100 | $ | Clam | I | S | V | 2 | c |
| Capsicum that's generally milder than a Serrano (2 wds.) | J()A()L()A(PE)Ñ()O(PE)P(PE)R | 0001011 | vertical tab | Answer just above with axes switched | P | E | IX | 3 | ea |
| Cavalry force celebrated by Tennyson (2 wds.) | L(IG)H()T()B()R(IG)A()D()E | 1000100 | D | Fictional vampire hunter | I | G | II | 2 | c |
| As per the title's continuation, this unflukish answer (or any of 10 others) | N()O(NC)O()I(NC)I()D()E(NC)E | 0101001 | ) | Digression ender | N | C | II | 3 | ea |
| Infrastructure that provides snailmail service (2 wds.) | P()O(ST)A()L()S()Y(ST)E()M | 0100010 | " | Treble barleycorn | S | T | IX | 2 | c |
| Emergence into sight once more | R(EA)P()P(EA)R()A()N()C()E | 1010000 | P | Author of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia | E | A | XI | 2 | c |
| Of the country Mecca is in (2 wds.) | S()A()U()D(IA)R()A()B(IA)N | 0001001 | horizontal tab | Advance one (multispace) column | I | A | III | 2 | c |
| Pattern of stress or emphasis in a word sequence ending in a period (2 wds.) | S(EN)T(EN)C()E()A()C()C(EN)T | 1100001 | a | Warhol novel | E | N | VIII | 3 | ea |
| Plaid (but not tartan) pattern once popular among ewe-raisers (2 wds.) | S(HE)P(HE)R()D()S()C(HE)C()K | 1100010 | b | Flat lookalike | H | E | IV | 3 | ea |
| Universal unlockers (2 wds.) | S(KE)L()E()T()O()N(KE)Y()S | 1000010 | B | Susceptance | K | E | X | 2 | c |
| The act of branding something as ignominious | S(TI)G()M()A(TI)Z()A(TI)O()N | 1001010 | J | Psion | T | I | VII | 3 | ea |
| Those from Cluj-Napoca, say | T()R(AN)S()Y()L()V(AN)I(AN)S | 0100011 | # | Sharp lookalike | A | N | X | 3 | ea |
| "Circular files" for trash | W(AS)T()E()B(AS)K()E()T()S | 1001000 | H | Adrian Smith | A | S | I | 2 | c |
| Bodies involved in Lyonization (2 wds.) | X()C()H()R(OM)O()S(OM)E()S | 0001010 | line feed | Move your paper up a little | O | M | VII | 2 | c |
The bigrams then go in the double column to select one letter from each. Also, for each bigram we note whether it is inserted twice or three times; as in the Ian Fleming quote the title is from, twice is (c)oincidence, and three times is (e)nemy (a)ction.
We can thus arrange the selected letters as shown below the grids, and select the letters indicated by Thai numerals or Hebrew numerals:
| Ic | Iea | IIc | IIea | IIIea | IVea | IIIc | IVc | Vc | VIc | Vea | VIIc | VIea | VIIea | VIIIea | IXea | VIIIc | IXc | Xc | Xea | XIea | XIc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ๗ | ๒ | ๑ | ๔ | ๕ | ב | ๖ | ๘ | ๓ | א | ||||||||||||
| S | I | G | N | T | H | A | T | S | K | O | M | A | I | N | E | U | S | K | A | R | A |
| Numeral | ๑ | ๒ | ๓ | ๔ | ๕ | ๖ | ๗ | ๘ | א | ב | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| Letter | K | A | K | O | M | N | G | E | R | A |
The Thai numerals give an eight-letter sequence, KAKOMNGE, the Hebrew numerals give a bigram, RA, and the full sequence of letters spells out SIGN THAT'S KOMA IN EUSKARA. In Euskara (Basque), koma is the word for comma; inserting RA into KAKOMNGE as per the binary ASCII code for comma (0101100) gives the answer, KARAKORAM RANGE.