Step 4.11: After reading through all the convoluted text, it turns out this step just transformed CANARY to BENEDICT. There are no 8-letter words in grid 1, so BENEDICT must have been the B in grid 3. That means CANARY was there before step 4.11 was applied.

Step 4.10: There are only two words in grid 2 with double letters that could have been swapped to make two new words: SHUTTLE and RAFFLE → SHUFFLE and RATTLE.

Step 4.9: The only anagram of REINVENTING is INTERVENING, which is 11 letters long and starts with I, so it must have been the I in grid 3.

Step 4.8 and 4.7: It's easiest to look at steps 4.8 and 4.7 at the same time, since they use the four names mentioned in one of the Author's Notes at the bottom. The only way to satisfy step 4.7 is to insert IDA inside HOLLY to get HOLLIDAY, so that leaves TRUTH → RUTH and EARLY → EARL for step 4.8. Here's where things start to get tricky, because all of these words could fit in multiple squares (e.g. EARL could have been the 4-letter word or either of the Es). We'll write them in as possibilities (kind of like solving a Sudoku) and they'll eventually get disambiguated later.

Step 4.6: Jumping back to step 3.11 for a second, it's clear that the character name that came out of that was GIMLI. The word above it is SMOG, which is an (almost) homophone of SMAUG.

Step 4.5: The only 10-letter word in grid 2 is ENGAGEMENT, so that must have been one of the results of this step. The only other common 10-letter word with the same letter bank is MANAGEMENT, the 6-letter word with that letter bank is MAGNET, and the 9-letter word with that letter bank plus a U and a D is AUGMENTED. Therefore, the transformations were AUGMENTED → ENGAGEMENT and MANAGEMENT → MAGNET. It's given that MAGNET is in grid 3, so it must have been the M.

Step 4.4: Looking back to step 3.5, it can be quickly figured out that the output of that step was FUSION. Caesar shifting it by 6 results in LAYOUT, which could have been either the 6-letter word or the L.

Step 4.3: Step 3.10 mentions that the word TV is in the grid, so that's the 2-letter abbreviation that was expanded to TELEVISION (which must have been the 10-letter word in grid 1). There are no 1-letter words in grid 1, so the drug abbreviation must be one of the letters in grid 3 (P, E, S, R, or L); the only common drug abbreviation is ECSTASY → E. Finally, the only day of the week whose 3-letter abbreviation reverses to another English word is WEDNESDAY, which must have been the 9-letter word in grid 1.

Step 4.2: The 3-letter word reversal resulted in WED, so the original word was DEW. Since the output of 3.11 was GIMLI, the letter-swapped word from step 4.1 must have been one of the three words to the left of GIMLI. The only one of those words that is reversible is MOOD, so the original word was DOOM.

Step 4.1: There's only one way the first letters could have been swapped between the three words to the left of GIMLI: NEST → REST, DOODLE → NOODLE, and ROOM → DOOM.

Step 3.11: Looking at the (fake) solution from Puzzle Potluck 0.01 (which never existed), this transformation must have been DWARF → GIMLI.

Step 3.10: The only main character of Family Guy who is referred to by his last name and has a one-word catchphrase is Quagmire. His catchphrase is GIGGITY, which must have been one of the 7-letter words in grid 1.

Step 3.9: The only 3-letter numbers are ONE, TWO, SIX, and TEN. The only 7-letter word that contains GACT plus one of those 3-letter strings in order is COGNATE (the strings TWO and TEN can also be ruled out because they contain a letter from GACT). ONE must have been the 3-letter word in grid 1.

Step 3.8: The Japanese flag can be described as a DOT, so the word JAPAN can be placed there. (Another plausible description could be SUN, but the S in grid 3 will be claimed by another word later anyways.)

Step 3.7: Step 4.11 mentioned that the word DRAKE had been transformed in an earlier step. The Drake music video that inspired memes was HOTLINE BLING. The only place those two words could fit horizontally adjacent is the 7 and 5 in grid 1. This also clears up the placement for HOLLIDAY and QUAGMIRE.

Step 3.6: Glancing back to step 3.2, the output was an actor's last name. The only reasonable option that starts with the name of a face card and ends with SON is JACKSON, so this step transformed JACKSON → PRINCE (the son of a king and queen). PRINCE could have either been the 6-letter word or the P.

Step 3.5: One of the Author's Notes mentions that the Yu-Gi-Oh! card Polymerization is referenced in this puzzle. Polymerization is used to summon fusion monsters, so this step transformed POLYMERIZATION → FUSION. We already had two potential squares for FUSION, and this doesn't help clear that up yet.

Step 3.4: The output of this step is Volcanion's signature move STEAM ERUPTION (which must have been the horizontally adjacent S and E in grid 3), but the inputs to this step are a bit more unclear. Volcanion's two types are fire and water. The text implies that one of those types has a molecule that's comprised of 3 elements, so that must be water (H20). Therefore, the word on the left must have been FIRE and the word on the right was the word referenced in step 3.1. Placing these also finally clears up EARLY, TRUTH, and ECSTASY.

Step 3.3: The only villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that contain the string ROCK are Rocket and Sprocket, so this transformation must have been BLANKET → ROCKET (unless spblanket is a word?). ROCKET must have been the 6-letter word in grid 1, which clears up JACKSON and POLYMERIZATION.

Step 3.2: Samuel Jackson played Nick Fury in the MCU movies, so this transformation was FURY → JACKSON.

Step 3.1: The very first (or last in this case) step is the most complicated. We need to find a word that can be broken down into 9 concatenated element abbreviations, and from step 3.4 we know that the 3rd, 7th, and 8th elements are H, H, and O in some order. The Author's Notes mention that interpreting the element abbreviation lengths as Morse code spells the word ZEST, so the pattern of lengths must be 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2. This means that the full word has the letter pattern ????H???HO??, ????H???OH??, or ????O???HH??. There are a few common words that fit one of these patterns (neighborhood, arachnophobe, daughterhood, etc), but the only one that can be broken down into the correct pattern of elements is ArAcHNOPHOBe. That was fun, right?