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I seem to have fallen at the finishing post. I have successfully completed the grid and followed the instructions, except I can't parse 3d or fill in its unch. And although I've filled in 1a, I can't quite explain how the wordplay works. Can someone nudge me in the right direction please?

It is just a Scots ditch + credit keithdgs, SYKE + [C]R, meaning 'certainly' for Spenser.

In my previous post I tried to raise two points. The first was specifically addressed to meursault, and he/she has chosen not to respond, as he/she is entitled to do.
My second point, which remains my opinion, which I am entitled to hold, is that solvers will get more satisfaction if they are given a nudge towards an answer, which helps them to find the answer for themselves, rather than simply be told what the answer is.
Others may (and do) disagree with my opinion, but I didn't say people should not ask for help, and I have on some occasions given help on this forum, though where possible I have tried to hint or nudge rather than be explicit.
And while I have always had a hankering to be a Dark Force, this is the first time I have ever been accused of managing it!

Keith - to add to nick's response, if you have Chambers, which is really a prerequisite for the Listener, check the second entry for the first five letters of your answer, and check towards the end of the various meanings given for the last four

Sorry, keithdgs, I only seemed to register half your request - senior moment I am afraid.

OK, meursault rather overdid the helping, I agree.
"Dark Forces" simply referred to the fact that we don't know who lurks behind these new identities, from whom we've never heard before, and whom many of us suspect of now trying to turn this weekly thread on CS the same way the AB thread (as far as I know) always was.
I've only been trying the L for a few years. Can't you understand that this constant bickering is so familiar, it achieves nothing (as there are evidently several camps, or --- less militarily--- several schools of opinion) and we would prefer to live without it? Just let people treat L problems the same way they treat all other puzzles. The amount of discretion you actually get will never be uniform, however much you preach, appeal to commonsense & considerateness, etc.

gem94, nick - thank you so much. I've always done the numerical Listeners and am now trying to get into the rest. I have ordered Chambers now!

Dryden, how can you possibly know which conclusions I have drawn from anything posted on an internet forum ? My goodness...we're still a long, long way from home !

Greedy Kite, I'd just received the news that my neighbour had died and wanted to be available for his widow. So, as in 4339, I pre-empted further requests for help.

Notwithstanding that, various questions remain to be answered by my accusers. Is it just me you have a grudge against ? Look carefully at 4339 and 4340 threads and you will see various help given that hasn't been requested.

You have chosen to come onto a site that you know gives answers instead of staying on a cosy little niche of AB that doesn't give answers - why ?

Is it just the crossword compilers who feel threatened here ? Really ? Or not the 'shrivelled' people, the afficionados who only have eyes on their name being on a tin tray ?

It's been said on AB that you can't gibe anything away until the submission date has passed. So there we have it - this whole thing is driven by ambition and status.