Something that makes no sense in spell check

[Steve Rickaby]

FrameMaker 7.0p577, Mac OS X 10.4.11, FrameMaker files possibly with some Word dross. (Yes, i know it's an old version, best I can do at present.)

The spell check stops in the space before a cross-reference, showing 'Extra space?'. There is no supernumary space in the text on screen. The objects displayed in the spell check dialog show a period followed by a character that looks like a small circle with an arrow at about 320 degrees. Neither of these objects occur in the text on screen. Repeatedly clicking 'Start checking' does not move the spell check past the offending text.

Retyping the relevant text and reinserting the cross-reference does not affect this behavior. The text in the file is fine on the screen and in PDF, but the spell check is responding to something invisible in the file that appears to be resistant to removal.

Anyone any ideas? This sort of thing spooks me. I am already aware of the adjudications for safe handling of material from Word, but it's far too late to redo any of this.

-- 
Steve