12 hidden clues in just one paragraph!

Question

I have attempted to hide as much information as I can within as little words as possible, while it still makes sense. And while the following paragraph does indeed make sense, that doesn't mean it's easy to read...

This took a very long time to work out, but the following paragraph contains 12 clues, all hidden in different ways:

Text version:

c^lues hid_den s^ecretly wi^thin ^th_is text. only some peopl^e cAn advance towa^rd^s the ^answer, en^dure their exception_al logic. no^w only y^ou mi_ght get the correct answe^r here. try to solve this, iF y_ou instantly identify The appropriate interpretation, incre^dible work - i will clap. a^s peo^ple approach a uniqu^e answe^r it will bEcome clear what i^s _ne^eded iⁿvolving solving steps. i hope eveRybody h_as won. no Use in waiting for ^the corr^ect answer to have seeⁿ somebody e_lse, 'investigate these words!', besee^ch^es i.

_{(I have provided both an image and text, each make some things clearer than the other, and there may be minor differences but the answer(s) remain unchanged)}

These clues will lead to you to a set of words, which combined with instructions from other clues, will give you the final answer. The final answer is a single word that describes the above puzzle.

The only other thing you need for this puzzle is the knowledge that all punctuation should be ignored.

Can you find all the clues and the final word?

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For those interested, this is not needed but the text itself says:

Clues hidden secretly within this text. Only some people can advance towards the answer, endure their exceptional logic. Now only you might get the correct answer here. Try to solve this, if you instantly identify the appropriate interpretation, incredible work - I will clap. As people approach a unique answer it will become clear what is needed involving solving steps. I hope everybody has won. No use in waiting for the correct answer to have seen somebody else, 'investigate these words!', beseeches I.

Answer 1

Three extractions give instructions to be used in the next part.

The italics spell EVERY FIFTY TWO LETTERS.
The superscript letters spell LETTERS AND WORDS PER SENTENCE.
The capital letters spell AFTER U.

Seven extractions give seven-letter words.

The sentences' first letters spell CONTAIN.
Taking every 52nd letter spells DOODLES.
The letters after U spell ERMINES.
The numbers of words per sentence spell FLIPPER (with A=1, B=2...).
The numbers of letters per sentence, mod 26, spell GOLIATH (with A=1, B=2...).
The struck-through letters spell HEROICS.
The last letters of the sentences, in reverse, spell INSPECT.

And two more extractions give clues to getting the final answer:

The bold letters spell SEVEN BY SEVEN.
The subscript letters spell DIAGONAL.

So:

We make a 7×7 square out of our words -- which conveniently start with "CDEFGHI" -- and read the diagonal:
C̲ONTAIN
DO̲ODLES
ERM̲INES
FLIP̲PER
GOLIA̲TH
HEROIC̲S
INSPECT̲
and this gives the word COMPACT, an appropriate word to describe a bunch of information packed into a small space!