Ev 1049 : Iris

[Voulez-vous]

Have finished the puzzle, but the end game is a mystery, so any help with what to do next would be much appreciated.

My 6 extra words (if I've done it right) are Join country's letters showing flag shape.

I've been looking for ages and the penny will not drop!

Thanks for any help if you have done this puzzle.

[doorbell]

try googling for a country whose flag is not a rectangle

[Voulez-vous]

Thank you doorbell! I shall do that right now. :-)

[Voulez-vous]

Still no joy, doorbell. Suspect I must have something wrong somewhere.

Any hint about the shape (I was guessing square and can only find three) would be greatly appreciated, as I am tearing my hair out! :-)

[kayakamina]

The country you are looking for is Nepal.

The N and the P (NP - Nepal) appear only once each in the grid.

[Voulez-vous]

Ah! I see. Thanks Kaya.
I shall join those to make the shape.
Well beyond my tiny brain, I'm afraid, though I gather some made that leap quite easily!
Shan't send now, as I needed far too much help, but a good workout and an insight into how to fathom these end games. :-)

[Keepatit]

Unless I'm mistaken each of the country's letters only appears once, and drawing a line through them in order gives the required result. So no abbreviation required

[Voulez-vous]

thanks keepatit.

The penny has finally dropped completely! No abbreviation.

[AndrewG-S]

What a silly finish to the crossword. How on earth do you get this without either knowing it or making the wild stab in the dark alluded to above. Genuinely thanks for giving this endgame away, could have spent hours on it and not felt very satisfied.