Crisis averted! I ended up cutting the conductors back flush to the ribbon with scissors, then scrapped away the shielding with a knife edge on one side to reveal the conductors.
Saved me a few bucks and some days without heat.
FYI...the cable spec was in fine print on it: "Sumitomo-Y AWM 2896 80C VW-1". It is a 10 Pin Flex Cable.